Vandhe Bharath Flight NY to Chennai Aug 14,2020

I am just adding the details that i know about the Vandhe Bharath flight that i took on Aug 14th:

Important note:

A) To go to India, you should have one of the following reason and relevant document mentioned below to avoid institutional quarantine.  (no exceptions)

https://www.newdelhiairport.in/airsuvidha/covid-19-exemption-international-passenger

Please attach the following document according to the selected category (one of the given five):

(1) Pregnant woman - Attach doctors recommendation letter

(2) Parents accompanied by children below 10 years - Attach passport copy

(3) Suffering from serious illness - Attach medical certificate

(4) Suffered a death in the family - Attach death/doctor certificate; Family as defined by Indian government consists of Spouse, Children, Sibling, Parents & Grandparents only

(5) Uploaded RT-PCR negative report / copy of RT-PCR tests where results are awaited is authentic and I will be liable for criminal prosecution, if found otherwise.****

**** Make sure you have negative test report by the time you reach delhi, otherwise, you have to go for institutional quarantine.

B) If you have the document ready, go to this https://www.newdelhiairport.in/airsuvidha/covid-19-exemption-international-passenger and fill all the relevant information and upload the document.  After sometime you will get email with status of your application like rejected or Approved.  If approved, you can proceed proceed without any much hassle in Delhi airport.  Always, remember that the finally authority would be the delhi airport personals.

C) If you are going to Chennai, then you need to book flight from New York to Delhi and then Delhi to Chennai on same day.  The Delhi to Chennai flight should be transit flight (vandhe barath flight).  Do not book any other domestic flight unless you have corona negative result in past 96 hours.

Book your ticket through following URL:

http://www.airindia.in/index.htm

NY to Delhi

> click on Book flight for New York to Delhi

> For Passengers travelling to India View More

> select the date , from and to destinations. for example New York to Delhi

> pay -> booking done

Delhi to Chennai

If you want to got to say Chennai again book ticket for Chennai using Vandhe barath.  I would suggest to call customer care number of Air India (1-88-634-1407) to make sure you are booking the correct flight.  Once confirmed book the flight

before the day of travel, do web check in of the baggage and other stuffs.

weigh the baggage 23 kg * 2 check in bags, 8kg cabin bag.

On the day of departure:

1. remember to keep hand sanitizer, small one 

2. If possible keep few hand gloves

3. Take a face shield

4. Have a pen handy, you need it for filling forms in NY , on the flight, at Delhi airport etc.

5. Remember to follow social distancing, even if others are not following.

6. be there at airport at least 3 hours before the boarding

7. Go to terminal of the Air India flight, as of today it is terminal 4 (JFK, NY) and go to the Air India row (5)

8. The airport person would give a undertaking form that should be later handed over at the place where you get the boarding pass.

9. Body temp would be measure, if normal, you will be allowed to proceed for boarding pass collection.

10. weigh the baggage 

11. collect the boarding pass

12. go to security checking area

13. put all the electronics item like laptop on the tray.. and shoe etc, bag on separate tray

14. full body scan would be done

15. passport would be verified by another officer.

16. they you would go to your gate and be seated.

17. Before boarding collect the  mask and shield given by air India. 

18. If you have booked middle seat, they you will get full body protecting dress (PPE).

19. board the flight

20. Inside the flight avoid walking as much as possible and put the face shield all alone. 

Once you land in Delhi:

1.  You will be asked to sit in a area

2.  First passenger with transit boarding pass would be allow to proceed.  (I was not in this category)

3.  Then those who have exemption or have covid negative certificate would be allowed to proceed. (I was not in this category)

4.  those who dont have any of the above exemptions (2 & 3), have to undergo quarantine in Delhi mandatory.

5.  You will be assigned a group and the entire group would be taken to custom and immigration.

6.  Passport would be kept by the airport personals 

7.  then need to go to another building where you need to opt for government or hotel quarantining.

8.  I opted for hotel quarantining for 7 days, and daily charge was around 1850 for single bed room.

9.  after this 7 days are done a doctor certify that you have undergone the quarantining for 7 days.  that can be used for proceeding to your destination, say Chennai. (of course after 1 week).  

Quarantining at Delhi and travelling to Chennai:

1. After 7 days of quarantining, a doctor came to the hotel were i was staying on the 7th day.  

2. He checked my temperature  and confirmed that I can leave the hotel after 12 PM  (12 PM was the check out time.

3. Had to pay Rs. 300 to doctor (dont know for what).  And provide a certificate that you have quarantined for 7 days at the hotel and no symptoms were observed.  Passport was also handed over to us.

4. I had booked Spicejet flight to chennai (only one checkin bag 20 KG , a cabin bag 7 KG, and 1 laptop bag allowed - for extra bag you have to pay Rs 500 / KG). Do web check in before you go to the air port.

5. Then took my own cab to Airport

6. At the delhi airport you may have to show the certificate provided at the airport entrance.

7.   Since web checkin is done, we have just put the checkin bag.

8.  Follow social distancing before boarding as well as during the flight.

9.  Once the flight landed at chennai, you need to get the ePass

    Epass can be applied through the Tamil nadu government website https://tnepass.tnega.org/

    You just to make sure that you have a cab No that you will use and the driver name to fill in.

    Also there are people at airport who would help as well (but avoid this if you can)

10.  Then you can travel with this epass to any part of tamil nadu.  

Hope this helps. Please leave comment if this is helpful.