For those of you who frequent airports across the country may be aware about some of these but might also be completely unaware about others. There were a couple changes that happened this year which contributed to revision in policies and procedures at airports. In this article we have compiled a list of all the things you need to know, that changed this year, with respect to air travel. From flight pre-checks to domestic travel insurance plans, we got plenty for you to look over in this article.
Announcement Free Airports
There is an increasing move towards airports that do not use public announcement systems to call on passengers or announce departures of their flights. You may wonder what new and innovative approach airport authorities have chosen to employ but the answer to that is zero. In an attempt to avoid noise pollution at airports, several small, medium and large scale airports have chosen to remove the provision of making announcements via the public announcement systems. In these airports, the only way for you to be aware of boardings, departures or delays is to keenly check the information screens or speak to concerned airline staff. If you are seated at the right terminal gate, you will notice that the airline staff, makes a call for passengers during boarding but if you are strolling anywhere else in the airport transit lounges, you will most likely miss out on these calls. So going forward it will be an important practice to stay alert at the airport terminal lest you miss your flight.
Early Arrivals
Rarely did people ever assume that air travel could get shorter than what it already was but in several cases lately, airlines are docking passengers sooner than their expected arrival time. In recent cases, you’ll often hear pilots gladly mentioning over the in-flight public announcement system that so-and-so aircraft from destination x to destination y has arrived fifteen minutes earlier than their expected time of arrival. While this may seem like a great piece of news as you get a few extra minutes to collect your luggage and exit the airport on you way to your final destination in the city; it can also prove to cause a havoc. Sometimes, due to early arrivals, flights do not get docking spaces and end up having to park in outside bays of the airport terminal, causing passengers to walk or take the bus to the terminal, which ends up normalizing the minutes gained. We have also overheard several passengers, having to wait for several minutes because their pick-ups from the airport are still on route while they have reached earlier. Keeping this in mind, will help you plan out your connected travels and peripheral connections with more ease. Most of all, if a family member is coming to pick you up, simply have them check online for the arrival time and try to make it to or near the airport a few minutes in advance.
Disease Control
With the global outbreak of various types of contagious viruses and other medical or biological hazards, airports are strictly monitoring passengers inbound and outbound from a location. If the alerts or threat levels associated to any particular disease rise beyond the normal thresholds, you’ll notice paramedic units positioned at airport arrival terminals, scanning all passengers before they are allowed to proceed into the airport’s inner sanctum and exit into the city. Most of these units are prepped with monitors to measure body temperature, pulse rates as well as any specific signs of the disease in questions. It is recommended to cooperate with these units to the help them ease their process and do their jobs to the best of their ability. If you are suffering from any type of cold or cough, you may be admitted to some questioning but make sure to answer the questions to the best of your knowledge and let the trained experts conduct any test they require to. These practices are a way of controlling the spread of diseases and ensuring the health of all citizens, including you.
Flight Status Online
Several online portals now provide live tracking features of flights. Back in the day, one had to call the airline helpline, or speak to the airport authorities, who would hesitate in giving out any specific details about the arrival or departure of any specific flight. The airline staff would be more cooperative although they required several validation proofs to ensure that you are indeed related or know a passenger onboard the flight you are enquiring about. The only other options, lacking the right information was to go over to the airport and look at the arrival board for the status of flight you are awaiting. Nowadays with global online search engines having authorised access to airline databases, they are able to display the live status of flights through a simple search online. Oftentimes you need not even know the flight number to find the flight you are enquiring the status for, simply searching with the departure and arrival city names and the approx timing of the flight or mentioning the airline will pop up a set of options to identify the one you are looking for.
Airport Security
Another aspect which isn’t particularly new, but you should be aware of this as they are beefing up security in all airports. You full name on the airline ticket must match that on your identity proof. For travellers in India, you may be surprised that often this isn’t the case. Several passenger tend to have missing middle names etc on their airline tickets but since it doesn’t match their identity proof, it becomes a security concern and can cause you some inconvenience in entering the airport.
Eco-friendly Travels
Paperless is the new way to go forward and several airports across the country are allowing passengers to enter the airport premises by simply carrying an electronic version of the ticket of boarding pass on their mobile phone or tablet devices. It’s a good practice to reduce material wastage of paper. Although, it's important to ensure all your details are mentioned properly on your e-ticket and that you have plenty of power on your device to prevent it from switching off.
Insurance
Travel insurance is another element that most airlines have started offering passengers. It's a great way to ensure you safeguard your travel from any unseen or unexpected events. Domestic travel insurance plans unlike what many passengers think is not only to protect you in the event of a malfunction during the flight but it also provides you security against various other aspects of your travel. Theft and loss or damage of baggage is a common concern which many passengers face. It’s of high importance to undertake a domestic travel insurance plan to keep yourself covered against all possibilities when travelling.
Liquids
Another aspect to consider in your travel is carrying and consumption of liquids or medication. In terms of liquids the air traffic authorities have been quite stringent in not allowing any liquids more than 200ml in size. As a passenger we recommend that you refrain from carrying any liquid items in your carry on luggage as it is bound to be scrutinized in the security checks. If medication is required by you during your flight, then make sure to carry the doctor’s prescriptions along and also limit the medication to only the required quantity. You can keep the rest of the medication in your check in luggage.
We hope these updates and reiterations of the the domestic air travel rules have benefitted you by proving you necessary information for your upcoming domestic air travels.