Vande Bharat Mission

Evacuation flight Tokyo to Delhi, 22nd June.

Report by Saifuddin
Group members: Pandey san, Roy san, Sriram san, Devendra san.

Our Sincere thanks to all the support & guidance to ソＧ Deepak san, Nakagawa san, PBR Gopala san, Alok sir &others.
Hamamatsu to Narita Hotel:
• Shinkansen & Narita express were relatively empty.
• Temperature was being checked at hotel check-in.
• We had our dinner from the Family Mart at the hotel’s ground floor.
• Breakfast in the morning was majority Japanese cuisine. We could have only a light breakfast.
• We took the 9:30 shuttle bus to airport & reached airport by 9:40AM.

At the Narita airport:

• Even reaching at 9:40AM, there was already a big queue of people.
• We collected the baggage from Yamato & re-adjusted luggage to comply with luggage allowances.
• During standing in the queue, temperature was being checked & a couple of forms need to be filled.
• At the check-in, the 2 check-in bags are checked for weight & additional charges are to be paid for over-weight.
Around 10,000yen if over-weight.
• Only 1 hand bag was allowed. Weight check of hand bag depended on the check-in counter (Random).
• Our check-in was complete by 13:00. After this we went through security clearance & immigration.
• The majority of the shopping area in the airport was closed. Only a couple of duty-free shops are open & with
very less stock of chocolates & others.
• Our boarding gate no was 72. Social distancing was difficult while seating at the gate & boarding.
• Most of the people in our batch were allocated middle seats. Separate PPE was provided for the middle seat
people, which was needed to be worn before boarding the flight.
• Temperature was being checked before boarding & was written down on the boarding pass.
• Food was provided before boarding the flight. A set of masks & face shield was provided near the seat.
Food was only vegetarian, consisted of a couple of sandwiches, namkeen & dry fruits.
• Our flight was re-scheduled from 14:00 to 15:00. We flew from Narita at around 15:15.

Picture 3 Long Queue at check-in counter Picture 2 Around 6 check-in counters were open Picture 1 Forms to be filled before
check-in

Picture 5 Notice about closure of stores in airport Picture 4 People at boarding gate
At Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi:
• We landed at 20:00 in New Delhi. First, all the passengers to Chennai were de-boarded.
Around 50% of the people were flying to Chennai.
• All others were de-planed & formed into groups of 30. A CRPF personnel was allotted to each group, who
instructed the procedure of clearances & was with us till the end.
• Brief procedure till airport exit:
Allocation into groups - Temperature check– Immigration clearance – Baggage collection – Long wait –
Respective state counters for Quarantine allocation.
• Waiting time to clear all the procedure was around 5.5 hours. Flights that landed at 17:00 were still not cleared,
hence there was a very long wait.
• The last step is at respective state counters. We were sent to Haryana counter.
A Quarantine form, with hotel details was filled & submitted. Local address proof of Gurgaon is required.
As our hotel was pre-booked, our process was quick.
• We finished all the procedure & exited airport at 01:30.

Picture 7 Divided into groups after landing in Delhi Picture 6 Waiting area after Custom clearance

Picture 8 List of Hotels available for Quarantine

At the Quarantine Hotel:
• Temperature was being checked at the entrance.
• We checked-in & reached our rooms by 03:00.

Suggestions:
1. Carry something to eat before going to Airport. It is going to be a long time even before boarding (~5hours)
2. If you are last in the queue, you will be mostly allotted middle seats in which you are required to wear PPE.
If you have luggage adjustment or require aisle seats, please go early than informed by Air India.
3. Social distancing depends upon you, avoid all crowded areas. Try to seat far away from people who are not in
your group. Sanitize & wash your hands regularly. Dispose the masks at frequent intervals.
4. After landing in India, your clearance process depends upon the day of your arrival. If there are other
international flights, then it is going to take a very long time. Get some food & wait it out.
5. Keep MSIL team & Deepak san updated of your status. In case of any issue, please do HORENSO.
6. It is most probably going to be a very hectic day with much of the time standing & waiting.
Ours total trip time was ~18hours for Narita hotel to Gurgaon hotel.
7. Have a good night sleep before the journey. Be safe & healthy.