A GUIDE TO FLYING DURING COVID-19 IN SOUTH AFRICA

Who would have thought our 2020 New Year's resolution of travel would be limited to walks in the backyard and trips to Woolworths. No tropical nights in Bali or the Contiki we've been saving up for. Not even that long weekend trip to Cape Town seemed realistic a couple months ago (And for the most part, doesn't even feel realistic now, 6 months into lockdown!) 

Since early March the effect of COVID19 started to ripple through the travel industry - yes, that's even before lockdown. At that point, international flights became almost non-existent and domestic travel seemed to slowly decrease in volume - I mean the whole reason COVID19 came to South Africa was because of travel, so it's completely understandable that even before lockdown, people started to feel uneasy about hopping on a plane filled with strangers. When the initial 21 day lockdown began on 27 March, and the complete standstill of airports and planes hit home. And of course it wasn't just us all the way down here in SA, the whole world experienced what might even be the biggest standstill in air traffic since air travel became mainstream.

As of right now, 4 August 2020, flying is still only reserved for essential travel - with leisure travel not being permitted. While a naughty few (*cough* me) have found sneaky ways to get around legislation, the flight and travel industry are far from their pre-Corona levels.

I recently took my first domestic flight since lockdown began (With my last flight having been 9 March 2020 - feels like a lifetime ago) and boy was it different to anything I've experienced before! I thought I'd share a few tips for anyone travelling on what to expect and hopefully it will help take away the anxiety.

I flew DUR - JHB return with Flysafair (Mango Airlines also operates on this route and a few other airlines operate on different domestic routes).

TIPS FOR FLYING DURING AND POST COVID19

• Firstly, it’s not as bad as you think BUT don’t get too comfortable - you still need to make sure you sanitize as much as possible! I carried a hand sanitizer and aerosol sanitiser to sanitize my hands and clothes after coming into contact with surfaces

• There are very few flights a day - only 5 at most on the DUR - JHB route but I booked the day before so it's not imperative to book in advance however with there being so few flights, the flights that are operating tend to be quite full. • You’re only allowed to enter the airport if you’re flying and the first thing you do when you enter is hand in your (Already filled in) health declaration and get a temperature check.

• The airport is probably gonna be empty. Like resembling a zombie apocalypse empty. Don’t freak out! • Leisure and nonessential travel is still not permitted and legally you do still need a permit to travel - there are lots of different types of permits for whatever reason you need to travel but the most common is a business permit filled in by your employer • There’s a no contact policy - you scan your own boarding pass and instead of handing in your ID at check in, you hold it against the clear petition for them to see. They also ask you to remove your mask for them to confirm your identity. Apart from that you wear your mask the entire time at the airport and during the flight😷

• Most restaurants and facilities like lounges are closed. At King Shaka, the long stay parking was also closed - rather check in advance and don’t assume everything is operating as normal • On the flight it isn’t a given that you’ll have an empty seat next to you, some airlines give you the option to book the seat next to you to ensure that it’s empty

•On the plane, services like inflight magazines and drinks and food may not be available onboard

I hope this helped you. Lets support the travel industry as much as we can in the coming months❤️