COVID Mar 21 Update: Travel to Delhi Indian Airport checkout process step by step

This is the step by step diary of a UK traveller (london heathrow airport) to Delhi Airport via AI 162 (air india) on 16th Feb 2021

everything about international NRI or non Indian passenger travel is very badly managed end to end – please gather some patience for all the below steps

01.03.21 Note for Travellers, if you fly after taking a valid RT-PCR test then you are allowed to goto home after RT-PCR test at delhi airport now, so ignore the Feb 21 experience written below about the RT PCR test at delhi airport + 6 hrs wait for results.

1. Many flights like Vistara recently got cancelled as India has reduced overall number of flights to delhi airport to manage the incoming flow of passengers better by local administration. More concern due to new covid-19 strains being reported in many other parts of the world.
2. No quarantine is required for NON UK passengers arriving with a negative RT PCR certificate provided the test is conducted within the 72hrs period from the date of journey. However, all passengers arriving from the UK must undergo RT PCR test both in India & UK (within 72hrs of flight, you can get RT-PCR done at airport itself for £99 if you live close to airport. Report comes via email within 24-36hrs max. Book here https://www.heathrow.com/at-the-airport/fly-safe/covid-19-test for airprort or local to your town tests. Boots UK phramacy is also offering tests at £89. UK NHS doesn’t issue travel certificates so you need to book private test labs tests from boots UK website or https://www.heathrow.com/at-the-airport/fly-safe/covid-19-test Those passengers who are found negative in RT-PCR test at Delhi Airport must undergo 14-days of home quarantine. Ones who found positive, will be taken to govt facility for quarantine. However, the last form you fill after coming out of the customs gates to go home, to exit airport, says that home quarantine is of 7 days. However, for UK passengers, it is 14 days home quarantine in India and 10 days when you are back to UK plus one RT_PCR test witin 72hrs before flight and two mandatory RT_PCR tests after coming back to UK. https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control
3. if you are travelling from UK (or countries with novel corona virus mutations reported) to India then you will need covid test pass reports for tests done within 72hrs of flight from UK (local to that country) as well as a RT-PCR test done at delhi airport https://www.newdelhiairport.in/ (book it online for Rs 3400 as that will save you 5-10mins in Queues at airport for cash/card payments) . You can use NON Indian mobile no for this booking to get OTP later when report comes,. But because govt will do follow up calls within 24 hrs of you reaching home so you need to mention Indian contact number in all passenger locator forms anyway. You dont need to register yourself at state DSP. They get the information directly from airport process via Air suvidha form and also from the desk where they keep your passport, where you fill the same air suvidha form details in duplicate. Also In online test booking choosing a slot doesn’t mean anything. All passengers wait in same queues. Online booking saves you probably 5-10 mins in the process. Others were paying inr 3400 by cash/card at the airport. However, in the end all 200-300 paper reports come together, so no benefit of fighting in queues to get your sample taken early hence dont fight in the queues please. :), we all exit together in the end 🙂
4. you need to upload the before flight test report at air-suvidha form website and also carry paper copies to show at checkin counters at airport. Airports are quite empty due to overall travel restrictions and hardly many people in Queue. There are separate desks for business and economy but when I reached 90 mins before flight, 2 checkin desks were already empty. I guess most people expect a lot of process steps so come quite early for checkin at airport. Checkin desk people ask for reason of travel merely as a formality, you don’t need to provide any written proof of anything (business trip in my case)
5. if you are travelling from US (or countries with NO novel corona virus mutations reported) to India then you will need covid test pass reports of within 72hrs of flight from UK (local to that country) OR  RT-PCR test at delhi airport (one of the two)
6. If you can then please Carry print out of RT PCR tests, air-suvidha completed form and photocopy of your passport as well as it will save time later in process.
7. Dis-regard the obsolete 14 days home isolation announcement made in the flight as it is actually 7 days home isolation if you leave the airport to your home.
8. They need to serve you a meal (photo provided below) for every 6hrs of flight, so as UK to India flight is 8+ hrs they serve 2X  good indian meals now
   1. first meal options
   2. non-veg meal- sausage and egg scramble etc
   3. veg  – paneer bhurji, spiciy potatoe sabji and 2X potatoe cutlets (yummy) in casserole, aloo parantha, fruit salad (no alcohol)
   4. Note: a few months ago they were serving frozen bread and butter like you get dropped from WHO/UN planes in war torne parts of the world, compared to that this meal feels luxury
   5. second meal (2 hrs before landing) options
   6. veg (for everyone)- palak paneer, rice, mix veg in a pack, plus kheer
   7. fruit cake
   8. cup cake
9. before landing, inflight staff will ask everyone to sign two “passenger locator” kind of forms. You don’t need to fill them as long as you are carrying a photo copy of airsuvidha online form  which you have already filled in at https://www.newdelhiairport.in/airsuvidha/apho-registration
10. Also ignore wrong announcements of home isoloation in the plane. As per WHO and also after your RT-PCR tests at delhi airport- everyone is legally obliged to 7 days home isolation (take it seriously if you travelled from new strain locations like UK). Once you reach home in any city, you will get a call within 24hrs on your Indian contact no to check for symptoms and later also within 7 days. No one I know in delhi has actually been visited by authority people in next 7 days but have heard that in chandigarh police drops at home and puts a marker outside home that it has a visitor from UK for home isolation.
11. when you come out of plane from a UK flight, you are compulsory taken to RT-PCR test location within airport corridors. For NON UK flights, if you have had a covid-19 test within 72hrs of landing then thats fine with them.
12. They would assign you passport submission desks from A to N. Don’t lose the slip they provide you back to get back your passport or you won’t get your passport back.
13. If you are carrying a photo copy of your passport then you can probably jump 50 ppl in queue as this RT-PCR desk takes your passport photo copies of everyone’s passport for submission. They keep the original passport and give you the photocpy signed with the desk no of your test confirmation details. now it doesnt matter that you have filled air-sividha form online, they will ask you to fill same detaiils on two same forms but on same A4 sheet (to save paper) 😉
14. After you have handed your passsport and above mentioned form to the desk, they will return you half of that form as a proof along with signed name of desk no (which they will announce later for passport collection once RT-PCR reports are In)
15. you will be then sent in a Queue for payment for the RT-PCR test. which is INR 3400. out of which 800 is for test (fixed by govt) and rest INR 2600 is from plaza airport lounge to give you 1 meal and water+tea on those uncomfortable seats marked for you as per your test queue number. (marked on booking receipt)
16. After payment you will be sent to Queue on another desk to get your sample booked in
17. then you will queue in line to get your test sample taken
18. after that you will go to your seat no marked seat in a designated area and wait for next 4 hrs to get your results
19. you will get the results by SMS witin 4 hrs but that is not enough to get you out of it.
20. you will get one veg or non veg meal basket (chicken rice/ paneer rice with one roll, sweet cake and crisps etc, photo provided below) while you are waiting for test results. You get free tea/coffeee top-ups during that time. You will see many Indians shouting at poor staff etc for delay in getting their results simply because the staff is private and too polite and travellers are too irritated due to lack of sleep. NO Indian is following any social distancing at airport, Be prepared for this shock.
21. you will need to spend min 5-5:30 hrs in that waiting for airport test reports area before CRPF staff comes back with reports of 400+ people and starts calling passengers by their passport submission desk no. You have to wait for paper report to get back your passport and clear many checkpoints later. Delhi Airport rt pcr report update first comes by email and sms. To find out your outcome early, Go to mobile site of testing company Genestrings Diagnostic Centre here https://livehealth.in/dashboard/, choose forgot password option, get otp on your registered mobile no before (can be non Indian mobile no) and then choose new password then login and see your report. This online test report can come within 3-4hrs of testing but actual paper report comes back to airport in atleast 5 hrs of testing. And there will be long queues for passport collection. No social distance maintained anywhere by anyone. The moment we land in India, we Indians become true indians 🙂 No respect for private space. By this time, people are so desparate to get out that at passport collection counter, you will feel that you are fighting for a bottle of whiskey at delhi govt beer shop counter :). Little they know that it will take atleast another 1-1.5hrs in rest of the process. 😉
22. you show your receipt of passport at the right desk no, sign the receipt of getting your passport back, get your boarding pass stamped twice ( having boarding pass is crucial) and start happily thinking that your 5 hours long wait = torture is over. lolz But not my dear, just read on 🙂  once you come out of this Queue, it would be already 5.5+ hrs since you landed..
23. you go to immigration counter and are told that you need to fill immigration form on desks behind the Q area of immigration counter. You fill them and come back to the immigration counter Queues.
24. you get out of immigrationc counters to baggage collection area and pick up your check in baggage.  but to your utmost surpise
25. you have to Queue up in 500 mtr long queye of passengers trying to get out of airport via a customs x-ray machine. (we got out quicker as our whole flight was covid -ve and some embassy ppl’s sweethearts were on our plane).
26. once you come out of customs checkout Queue, its would be already 6.5 hrs since you landed.. but the tortute is not over yet
27. based on whether you have a connecting flight from dehi domestic airport or leaving delhi airport for taxi, you will be directed in two different directions. In either directions you will now need to fill govt’s passenger locator form and get your boarding pass stamped (3rd time) to get out of airport. There are four stops to this checking process and it takes min 30-45 mins for whole process.  Your online air-suvidha form print out is useless here.  No Escape from this. having boarding pass is crucial.
28. finally when you are done with this torture, it will be easily min 6-6.5hrs from the time your fight had landed. Now eiter you follow instructions for the domestic connecting flight or move to designated area inside airport parking for uber and ola.
29. once you reach designated area inside airport parking for uber and ola, book one via app, and there will be some cars waiting there to take a passenger. Some months ago (for 4-5 yrs), ola/uber car drivers would call you before coming to airport and cancel your booking due to the destination not one of their fav places to go, but not anymore. Now Uber has a taxi stand in there just like airport taxis… and the first one in Queue have to take you to your destination, whichever it is.  🙂  so no more torture of ola/uber drivers cancelling your pickup the moment you land in India as a Proud NRI 🙂
30. finally you are seated in uber/ola (they dont switch on AC for you by default, ask for it).. and head off home.. it would be most likely 6-7hrs since you landed. inform your loved ones that you are on your way now to home or to your connecting flight at delhi domestic airport terminal 🙂

1. in flight food. paneer, carrot, rice, paratha, bread

Airport tests waiting area food packet

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Indian Govt Airport Passengers management strategy