Some airlines, including Air France, offer the submission of "Corona documents" in advance. The promise of the airlines: The digital document check will make traveling easier. However, this can also be taken to the point of absurdity.

A few days before departure, Air France sends out an invitation to participate in the Read2Fly program. The passengers upload their vaccination, recovery and / or test certificates and - if necessary - the completed entry documents and should - if everything fits - then get a note on the boarding pass. This should then be obtained online or via smartphone, so that travelers without checked baggage do not have to go to the check-in counter. That’s the theory.

In practice, however, things can run out of balance if the electronic boarding pass is only sent around an hour after the aircraft has taken off. This means that travelers have no choice but to queue at the check-in counter. If the counter agent is only interested in the passport and does not "check" the "Corona documents" at all, it seems a little absurd.

Something can go wrong, because the digital test procedures are quite new and use by travelers fluctuates greatly, so that the need for staff in the background is difficult to calculate. Regardless of whether you have the “Ready2Fly” note on your boarding pass or not, the ground staff can or not show the “Corona documents” when boarding. Regardless of whether you fly with Air France or another airline: It depends very much on the airport in question and the current mood of the boarding staff. Sometimes you check meticulously and sometimes the interest is zero. Reminder from the past: This is exactly how it was before the corona pandemic with the presentation of the passport directly at the gate.

If the staff dawdles, the flight will be delayed

But back to Air France: While the ground staff in Vienna, Austria only looked superficially to see whether there were other paper or smartphone papers in addition to boarding cards and passports, the Paris CDG is more precise. The documents are sifted through meticulously and so precisely that boarding on one of two flights was so protracted that the captain made repeated announcements on board. Why? Boarding started on time, but the "document checks" were carried out so meticulously and slowly that 20 minutes after the block time, not all passengers were on board.

So what should the captain have done? Do you close the door and take off, even though the travelers were on time at the gate and had their legs flat for a long time? In this case, Air France would have had to compensate every single passenger who missed their flight. Quite apart from that: the damage to your image would be enormous if you simply weren't taken along because the ground staff boarded the vehicle at a snail's pace.

So the captain in charge decided to wait and kept those passengers who were already waiting on board for the Airbus A319 finally rolling to the gate happy with regular, humorous announcements. "I don't know how often you still have to show your Corona documents today, but if it takes even longer, we could consider getting out and doing a few fitness exercises in advance. Unfortunately, the weather has something against it, because as you can see through the window, it is pouring rain. But I also have good news for you: According to the weather forecast, the sun is shining in Vienna and at least you won't need an umbrella. "

Three out of four Air France flights over-punctual

The situation described is certainly not the norm, but rather the exception, because on four Air France flights there was only one delay due to a meticulous and slow review of the "Corona documents". The other three flights departed on time and arrived well before the block time, which can be seen on the booking documents. This is certainly also due to the fact that boarding was carried out quickly on the three punctual flights, because these three connections were almost completely booked out.

Nevertheless, as a traveler, you ask yourself the question of why you should actually submit "Corona documents" in advance if the check cannot be completed on time and not just once, but on all four flights and thus the walk to the check-in counter Picking up the boarding pass is necessary. On many routes, Air France no longer issues a boarding pass, but a "check-in confirmation". With this, the passport and the "Corona documents" you should then come to the check-in counter. But that is exactly what the "Read2Fly" program should save. If it would work the way the airline promises.

Instead of saving time and queues, the scenario for transfer flights via Paris-Charles de Gaulle looks like this: Online submission of the documents, web check-in, queuing at the counter to pick up the boarding pass and showing the "Corona documents" if the Agent interested in showing the "Corona documents" when boarding the feeder, showing the same papers when boarding the onward flight and presenting them again at an official control at the destination. And now it is getting absurd: Both destination countries have not imposed any requirement on the airlines that they should check the documents, because entry is also permitted without documents, but a test must then be carried out within 24 hours ...

Austrian Airlines and Eurowings can do "digital document control" better

Air France's Ready2Fly program is a good idea, but it is not really useful if boarding passes are sent out after departure and there is no practical use for passengers because it is still necessary to queue at the counter. Other airlines, such as Eurowings and Austrian Airlines, can do this much better, because they have repeatedly managed in a practical test that the boarding passes are sent electronically after the documents have arrived.

In general - and this is not specifically related to Air France - the question arises whether it makes sense that such different "controls" are carried out or not at all. Much depends on the place of departure and the mood of the ground staff. Sometimes the documents are carefully and slowly viewed and delays are even accepted, while “other colleagues” do not look at the documents at all.

Incidentally, it is really strange at Malta Airport: All passengers have to come to the check-in counter with their "Corona documents" before entering the security area. Otherwise, entry will be refused, i.e. you won't even get to "Siko". The low-cost airlines Wizz Air and Ryanair don't even have a cost trap here, because whoever thinks that you have to go to the counter anyway and therefore not check in via the web will be asked to pay by the low-cost airlines. But if you cross with a boarding card on your smartphone or printed out, show your passport and "Corona documents", there is a "small paper" and thus access to the security area. Tip: Always check in with low-cost airlines via the web, regardless of whether you still have to go to the counter or not.