USA to Germany and Back, In Times of Corona

11/01/2021 English German

Edition # 140
San Francisco, 11-01-2021

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USA to Germany and Back, In Times of Corona

Figure [1]: A completely empty flight from San Francisco to Munich.

MichaelSince we have had the dubious pleasure of flying back and forth between the US and Germany several times in the last few months, I wanted to quickly explain what bureaucratic hurdles have to be overcome nowadays due to Corona.

Anyone flying from the US to Germany currently must present an immunization certificate to the airline before departure. Additionally, German customs requires registration einreiseanmeldung.de. The traveler must present a printed document upon entry. During the 10-12 hour flight, the traveler must wear a mask the entire time. Medical masks are allowed, and some airlines even allow cloth masks. The mask can be removed while eating or drinking. Different airlines enforce this differently, Lufthansa is very strict while United is more lax.

In the opposite direction, from Germany to the USA, the Americans require the airlines to have passengers carry a printed or photographed copy of a negative result from a Corona rapid test on their phone, no older than three days. The time does not matter, so if the test was taken on Monday morning at nine o'clock, one can still fly on Thursday evening with it. The test can be booked relatively easily at pharmacies and test centers in Germany and is usually the only patient -- since the test costs real money, practically nobody does it in Germany anymore.

Figure [2]: Flying in times of Corona requires nerves of steel.

At German airports, there have been sporadic gate changes and hours of delays lately due to additional security checks, because passengers can't reach their gate on time. At Munich Airport, passengers going to San Francisco recently had to wait in line for over an hour before they were allowed to the gate to the USA. So it's important to stay calm. If the other people in the line are also on the same flight, the pilot will wait until everyone is on board, no matter how late it gets.

Figure [3]: Depending on the flight time, good deals can be found under certain circumstances.

Partially the flights are almost empty. I was recently on a Lufthansa flight with maybe 50 passengers, and that in an Airbus 350-900, which holds 350 people. With fuller flights, Premium Economy and Business are sometimes practically fully booked, while budget airlines in Economy can stretch out over three rows, and even passengers from the more expensive areas can scurry to the back to get some sleep lying down in completely empty rows. But that doesn't always work, it really depends on how realistic the flight lands at the destination. If no normal person (who cares about wasted vacation days or business meetings) would book such a flight, then the chances are high to land a super deal with a seat in the wooden class. With the easing of travel restrictions and the start of the holidays in Germany, the flights will soon be fully booked again. Good luck anyway!