TravellingMan

Sorry, with so much changing on a day by day basis YMMW. What you will face is probably not what someone else is going to face.

I would buy a ticket to a destination that is not on any COVID watchlist as some states are, plus on an airline that is not in the same terminal as you land nor have interline agreement. This way you can try out what you have in mind. Good luck!

oliver2002

In normal time the CISF will not let you out of the terminal unless an airline employee signed you out. They usally do that when your flight gets cancelled or you miss it etc. I don't know how they would handle it in Covid times, I imagine its a much higher challenge now. Also note that people are hypersensitive on this topic and getting caught with such a plan may get you into severe trouble.

superboi

I agree with oliver2002 You are trying a risky and unnecessarily complicated method.

Option 1 is not possible since you will be tested on arrival and cleared for transit only after your test result comes back (since you are flying through ME). This will take 8-10 hours (according to the airport website). During this time you will not be allowed out of the terminal. So even if you have a long layover you will spend it waiting for your test results.

Option 2 is possible if you have other members in your party who will go to Mumbai (however they also will have to undergo institutional quarantine so your purpose is defeated).

Easiest way to avoid institutional quarantine is to re-book on a direct flight. Passengers arriving directly from USA are not subject to institutional quarantine.

kapsshah42

Thank you all for your valuable suggestions.

abhilife2001

I am not sure why we will go out of our way to fly thru ME when there are direct flights from US without any such restrictions. Granted that the service maybe better in the ME airlines but is UA/AI so bad that we want to go thru all the additional tests and hassles.

oliver2002

Puri-ji is ecstatic:


Pretty good load factors... the scare tactic is working for them. I wonder what they will do for the S21 schedule. The suitcase parade must be interesting to watch.

superboi

"continues ahead..." my guess is this bubble trouble will go on till the end of S21 or till AI is sold, whichever is earlier...

shukar

They would not let me go out of the airport (otherwise, I would have just hopped onto car waiting for me outside). Also, I had to go thru customs in BOM but then was able to check in my bags for BOM-HYD-STV leg and collect the luggage in STV.

Keyser

has anyone landed in del from either the middle east, uk or europe since the latest rule changes????

i have a auh-del flight late tomorrow night & will be landing at del early in the morning on the 8th....i've filled up the air suvidha form but can no longer apply for an exemption since that is only limited to 'death in the family'....have uploaded my negative rt-pcr test & have booked/paid for my covid test on arrival....lets see what the experience is like when i land....

swordmaster100

Planning a trip from India to USA in April. Indian citizen with B1/B2 visa.
T2 city in both USA and India, so UA/AI involve 2 stops. I would prefer ME3 due to ease of transfer (especially as UA/AI involve baggage transfer in USA port of entry), but is ME3 permitted right now? I'm seeing conflicting reports, and wanted FT's opinion.
Is there a Government of India website with the latest rules I could keep checking frequently to see how the rules change in the future? I'm having to scrounge information from Twitter and Facebook posts.

galaticos

official rules on air bubbles at civilaviation.gov.in

unofficially - people have come and gone per lots of reports in this thread.. just have to weigh your preference and ability to withstand travel disruption (if taking ME3) if the rules get enforced last min..

officially per rules - US-India only via UA/AI..

swordmaster100

Thank you very much, this helps.
I found https://www.civilaviation.gov.in/en/...nsport-bubbles from that link which is informative too.

xobile

Like the other post said... I've booked numerous senior family members to T2 cities in India numerous times over the past few months, to and from India without issue. Emirates and Qatar are fine with transit, Etihad is being a stickler for the rules and will cancel any preexisting transit booking.

Keyser

a follow up on my experience today....

i landed from auh at 4:45am....got off the flight to be greeted by a number of security personnel handing out a form that had to be filled out on the spot....pretty basic form that asks for the flight details & personal info like name, passport number, age, number, email & address....

once i had filled out the form it was verified by the same person who handed it to me....he let me pass through & i walked 15-20 feet where another team was waiting to verify the same form....after this i walked another 100 feet or so to be met by another team of security personnel who verified the form for the 3rd time....

next i made it to the covid testing site where they asked to see the same form for a 4th time....once the details were verified they asked if i had already made the inr 800 payment for the covid test....i told them i had & they asked me to go to the booths at the very end....i made my way there where my form was checked for a 5th time & for the first time the contents of the form were entered into the system....they printed out 2 stickers, one was stuck on the form while the other had to be handed over to the technician doing the covid test....i had to wait a couple of minutes & was called over for the test....the test took a minute & my form was stamped & handed back to me....

i was then told to make my way to the exit....i left the testing area to be immediately greeted by another security check point where they checked my form for the 6th time & verified that i had the stamp on the form....another 100 feet walk got me to another counter where my form was checked for a 7th time & they also asked to see my passport & boarding pass....

this then led me to immigration where there was no mention of the form or any other paperwork i had printed & carried with me....i got through that in a couple of minutes as well & by the time i got to baggage claim my luggage was already there waiting for me....another 5 minutes later i was in my car heading home....

the whole process was organised, besides the fact that the form i filled out after landing was checked a grand total of 7 times while my covid report, air suvidha form & covid test payment verification was not even checked once....

at 11am i got a text message & email letting me know that the test results were available....i logged on to see a negative result & was not sure if i was more relieved by that result or the fact that the whole process from stepping off the plane to getting into my car took less than half an hour....

surram

Replying to swordmaster100's message "Planning a trip for parents from India to USA in April. Indian citizen with B1/B2 visa..."
If it is for you, I would take a chance and consider QR or EK (not EY as they tend to take a strict view of the notification). But if you have senior citizens accompanying you it is not worth the risk