By Mira Van
Is travelling abroad in pandemic times bothering you due to associated risks? Read on to know about the tips and precautions that must be taken while booking international flights.
There may be situations where you cannot avoid international travel even during the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, due to different reasons, either personal or professional. The key here must be the precautions you take while planning the trip and during travel to ensure the health safety of yourself and others around you.
Let’s look at the tips and measures to take while booking international flight tickets.
- Make Sure to Buy Travel Insurance that Gives Maximum Coverage: You must opt for an insurance plan that covers you for maximum possible risks, including COVID. Also, it must cover flight cancellations and cancellation of travel plans due to pandemic situations. While travelling during such uncertain times, it is good to have maximum risks covered.
- Opt for shorter duration and Direct Flights than Connecting Ones: You must look for flights that are of shorter duration. Direct flights generally have lesser total travel time than connecting flights. By opting for direct flights, your exposure to the outside environment reduces since you will not have to change flights at multiple airports.
- Look for Less Popular Airports at the Source/Destination: There may be multiple airports at source and destination points. You must look for less popular ones at both points to stay relatively safe and avoid the rush. With a lesser crowd, it is easier to follow social distancing and other precautionary measures to combat the pandemic risk. Hence, more safety can be expected.
- Earn Air Miles While you Travel: With the current pandemic situation, ticket prices of most of the airlines have increased relatively. To avail maximum benefits out of it, you can sign up for an airline rewards program that allows you to collect air miles when you book tickets, dine-out, or stay at the hotels as per their terms and conditions. These air miles can be redeemed against future flight bookings, dining and other places that are covered under your reward program. With higher prices, you can expect to earn even more air miles in the current scenario.
- Check for COVID Related Rules and Guidelines for Different Airlines: Before getting your international flight bookings, make sure to check COVID related rules and regulations for that particular airline. They may have different rules related to baggage, quarantine policies, the time of reporting at the airport, and other measures to ensure the safety and well-being of the travellers and their staff. It is good to gather all the information beforehand to avoid any confusion later on.
Stay Safe and Keep Others Safe
Since it is not possible to postpone every travel plan due to the COVID outbreak, we must act responsibly to ensure safety for self and everyone around us. With the above tips and measures, you can plan a safe journey by minimising the associated risks.
