Recent travel experience Munich – Dubai-chennai in Emirates

MUNICH-CHENNAI-EMIRATES

Hello all,
Undertook my trip from Munich (MUC) to Chennai (MAA) through Dubai (DXB) on the 7th/8th of April with Emirates. Thought I would post about it since a lot of uncertainties were surrounding around Emirates.

Things I needed –

Usual paperwork like passport and visa/residence permit
Negative covid test taken 72 hrs prior to travel (rules getting changed, refer what is told to you by the airlines)
Air suvidha form
TN epass
I took 3 copies to be on the safer side but 2 should be fine as well.

Few pointers if you are taking this itinerary:

Update the Emirates office with your TN epass number at least 48 hrs before departure. It’s not a must but would save some time for you at the counter at the airport.
Try to arrive at the Munich airport before~ 3 hrs to the departure because a lot of formalities have to be completed from the airline’s end.
Bring sufficient FFP2 masks to last until you get on the aircraft.
Both at MUC and DXB, during security check, I was told to put all my electronics inside my hand luggage, and not take them out, something which is quite new after the covid crisis.
It was an A380-800 aircraft for my trip to DXB. Seats were allocated keeping in mind the social distancing. Out of 10 seats in a single row (3-4-3), only 2 were filled. And only alternative rows were filled. This was a great move by Emirates!
Have your safety kit (masks, sanitizing wipes, gloves, sanitizer) given by Emirates with you for your DXB-MAA leg as well because you will be provided only with a face shield for this leg of the journey.
Try to disembark the aircraft as late as possible in DXB so that you can lose the crowd.
DXB airport was an absolute ruskus. Many roam without masks and social distancing is a concept hardly seen. Especially, during boarding the DXB-MAA flight. Again, a tip is to let the crowd go first and then board.
Negative test report, Air suvidha, TN epass will be verified just before boarding at DXB. They will also check if you have another set of copies.
The DXB-MAA was a B777-300 aircraft where the seating was done again keeping in mind the social distancing. But it was not an alternative row seating similar to the MUC-DXB leg as it was fairly crowded.
Register for the covid test online in MAA airport before. Otherwise, it was chaos with people running around with forms. Take a pen with you.
In MAA, only some counters will accept international cards for the test payment. Get to know them. And try to remind people that there is something called social distancing as and when required 🙂
Before immigration, only the Air suvidha form was collected.
The samples for testing will be taken outside the airport after you collect your luggage.
You need to call the number given in your test report receipt and send them the bar code number through WhatsApp to get your test report if you want them quickly (which is ~14 hrs, not so quickly is it?). Again, they promise you that you will get the results in about 6-8 hours but I got the report to my email ID only after 24 hrs.

Overall, it was a fine trip albeit except for the social distancing. Hope it clarifies some of your concerns.

Travel safe, wear a mask, follow social distancing. Take care.

Source and write,

Arvinda thiagarajan

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