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Bangalore: Meghana Manjunath, a 26-year-old passenger who flew back to Bangalore on an Air India evacuation flight from London early Monday, recounted her experiences, including lessons learned, in a series of tweets for the benefit of other waiting compatriots back home.
“I tweet live on my trip from London to Bangalore on Air-India’s first set of flights. It will only be me who shares my personal experience. If you can help someone else plan their trip then #VandeBharatMission and #nammabengalooru”, Meghana said in one of a long series of tweets.
Although the Boeing-777 plane landed at 4.41 a.m., it said passengers were asked to leave an hour after landing, in 2 rows at a time to maintain social distance.
Upon entering the arrivals terminal, he went through a health and immigration check-up, collected his luggage and booked a hotel.
“My health check included body temperature, blood oxygen saturation and heart rate. Asymptomatic people were also stamped with a quarantine center,” he said in a tweet.
Passenger cabin baggage was sprayed with a solution before it was handed over to them after the paperwork.
Meghana said she found Kempegowda International Airport, the third busiest in the country after Mumbai and New Delhi in normal times, elegant and well organized.
“Passengers received snacks and water while awaiting the reservation of the quarantine facility. All formalities were completed in 2 hours. We were also provided with three boxes of breakfast snacks until arriving at the hotel for quarantine,” he wrote.
On the plane, Meghna said that a major disappointment was that a third of the flight did not receive any protective equipment.
“The passengers in rows 41-52 had to rely on their own supply of masks and gloves,” he said in another tweet.
“In flight, there are no hot meals or service, packaged food and water are provided (enough for 3-4 meals!). Access to the restroom was unrestricted, but queuing for the restroom was not allowed in the hallways.”
Although other passengers applauded upon landing at the New Delhi airport, Meghana said there was no applause at the Bangalore airport.
“Slightly anti-climatic since no one applauded this time. Eyes cloudy and tired. However, I am happy,” said Meghana.
The flight took off from London Heathrow Airport on Sunday after noon for the long journey through New Delhi, where there was a crew change.
Meghna, an architecture student at the University of Sheffield, planned to return to India when all international flights to India were suspended from March 23, leaving her like thousands of Indians worldwide.
Noting that the flight departure was delayed 100 minutes at Heathrow airport due to ticketing issues, Meghana said: “Two large boxes of packaged food and water were placed on each seat. An AI airport manager said that some seats would be left empty at the rear of the flight to isolate anyone who begins to show symptoms on board. “
Among the guidelines for passengers on evacuation flights are: “There are no empty intermediate seats; fly at your risk; food and water will be provided on the flight.”
Passengers can carry 2 bags of 23 kg, a cabin bag of 7 kg and a laptop bag. The charge for each additional baggage is 144 British pounds.
Leaving the airport terminal after doing a negative review, Meghna boarded a state bus, with only 20 passengers to maintain physical distance, to her quarantine facility (hotel), where check-in was easy. No advance payment was made.
“There is no hotel choice. You can choose which category and a hotel will be assigned to you. As of now it is Keys Whitefield for 3 stars and Taj Yeshwanthpur for 5 stars.”
Whitefield is located in the southeast of the city, while Yeshwanthpur is on the way to the airport, which is about 40 km from the city center.
This story has been published from a cable agency source without modification to the text. Only the owner has been changed.
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