I have long since memorized my passport number. This is not due to a voluntary learning exercise, but rather to the banal need for mobility in Europe, namely to get from A to B by plane in 2020 (and 2021). Flying has suddenly become the god-be-with-us of many national-populist politicians who use the virus as a welcome opportunity to undermine fundamental rights through the back door.

In May 2020 I arrived in Vienna with Lufthansa from Frankfurt. First lockdown, hardly any flights, but the spirit of the early days among bureaucrats. On the plane, 2 pieces of paper were handed out, which had to be filled in and were supposedly collected again. On both forms, data was requested that is already in the passport or the flight booking: name, address, date of birth, passport number, expiry date of the passport. None of the forms were collected. Police officers and officials from the Ministry of Health were then positioned in the gate area to deal with those arriving. It was my turn at a man in his forties in the sweaty oars. In a rude tone, he explained that he was not interested in the pieces of paper from the plane and that I had to fill out a new form. A good 100 passengers felt the same way. On a table, approx. 2 x 1 m, the 'Notes of happiness' lay ready and the few ballpoint pens went through the hands of all passengers. According to the instructions 'How do I get infected?' There was logically no trace of keeping your distance, as the 10 x 10 m room did not allow 100 passengers to stand in line. Back at the sweating officer at his desk, I learned that I had to tick and sign 'quarantine' on the form. I explained to him on the basis of the regulation that this would not apply to me due to the exception rule and showed him the corresponding letter from the Chamber of Commerce. Concise answer: 'Sign me or I don't let you enter!' It then got louder and my threat with the lawyer and the hint that Austrian citizens should not be denied entry now also made the policemen who had been quietly around until then restless and ultimately the choleric colleague from the virus ministry became aware of the hopelessness of his action pointed out. Viennese hospitality at its best and my first contact with the virus notes. After a good 3 weeks the ministry apologized.

On many other flights within Europe there were never again such unfriendly characters as at Vienna Airport. However, there was an inflationary increase in the number of forms to be filled out. Everything in the interest of health, as flight attendants tried more or less credibly to whisper to the flying infantry. Since the notes were almost never collected, neither on the plane nor on arrival, I soon began to suspect that the forms might not protect me from being infected by Corona? Maybe just who wants to know who and when is flying from A to B. But why on earth are the papers not being collected?

Summer: Finally a vacation destination in sight. Madeira. You need a PCR test for entry, which you can bring with you or have to do on arrival. The latter, however, results in a quarantine. So to the family doctor, for a cheap EUR 138, - fumble in the nose and throat and happily boarded the plane with test results. On the plane (with stopovers in Frankfurt, Madrid and Lisbon) a total of 7 slips were filled out and 1 QR code was generated. None of the pieces of paper were collected, the QR code at least allowed them to enter Spain quickly.

On arrival in Funchal (Madeira) my first access to the depths of virology: My test would be invalid, as it would only say 'RT-PC'. But it should say 'RT-PCR'. In fact, the 'R' was missing from the test printout of the only laboratory in Salzburg to date. A new test was necessary. I invested the EUR 138 in an accelerated entry for free.

I have now done 25 tests in 9 countries: Austria, Germany, Iceland, Mexico, Portugal, Turkey, Cape Verde, Kenya and Tanzania. Nowhere are the tests as expensive as in Austria! Most of the countries mentioned have their own Covid test stations, usually in their own tents in front of the respective hospital wards. In Austria? Here my family doctor still comes outside and the smear is taken in the courtyard of the community building. With a lot of spectators and in all weathers. Data protection? Doctor's secret?

Keep distance?

What was noticed soon after the pandemic began was the inflationary use of stickers to warn of 'keep your distance'. Aisles and waiting areas were paved with it, especially at airports. This suggested a distance of 1,5 m - but stop! If such a passenger is to keep a distance of 1,5 m from another, he is entitled to 1,77 m² of standing space (not including the body mass). In the case of an Airbus 319 with its 136 passengers, that's a whopping 240 m² of waiting space. It must have been Gate A63 in DUS, where I finally got around 70 m² of free waiting space. Keep distance? With stickers, yes, but not possible in practice. It has often been exciting in the last few months when you were out and about in one of the numerous Canadair jets from LH subsidiary Cityline. While the charming can feeling during the flight should not mean any risk of infection, we passengers should then become part of a more than bizarre disembarking experience: row by row we got off, only to find ourselves in the crowded airport bus, where we were in the aerosol fog of the next man / the concubine was shuffled to the terminal. When you arrived there, you were then sprinkled with propaganda to wear mouth and nose protection, although the hallways are already yawning empty.

If you enter the terminal after the bus deboarding, at least at Munich Airport it is currently rather martial: On my last domestic flight from BER to MUC in a Canadair jet with a good 50 people on board, a whopping 14 police officers stood in the entrance area - most of them armed with MP. 'Do you want to shoot the virus away now?' were my first thoughts. My second thought was that we were in the middle of a police state, as the men and women in uniform neither greeted nor checked (what?). They were probably only there to intimidate. 'You shouldn't fly' as the 11th commandment of the Corona dictators.

Testing?

Of course, testing is important in order not to infect others if the outcome is positive. In everyday life and in a simple form, an indispensable companion for the near future. But before traveling? AUA and LH have tried to do this without success. The occupancy rate of the respective flights sank into the abyss. Only those who have lost contact with the customer can believe in such measures. To buy a ticket for 1.000 or more and then find out before departure that you are not allowed to fly? With this uncertainty factor, did you seriously want to fill aircraft again? KLM is currently trying to make a test before departure - because one test is not enough, it has to be two: a PCR test and a rapid test. The occupancy rate of the few flights will drop dramatically as a result. The last time I was in the Embraer from Amsterdam to Munich was another 17 passengers on the plane.

A total of 4 tests were necessary for a trip to Cape Verde in January and 16 forms had to be filled out on the plane or online registrations made (MUC - TLS - LIS - RAI; VXE - LIS - AMS - MUC and 3 island flights).  

On our return trip from Honduras in December via San Salvador (SAL) - Toronto (YYZ) to Frankfurt (FRA), as Austrian citizens in Toronto, we were forced to fill out the German online registration. All declarations that we were only in transit were unsuccessful. Only when we tried desperately and in the end unsuccessfully to enter our 5-digit Austrian postcode in the 4-digit field of the postcode, in front of the dispatcher, was she convinced that this form would not save us from Corona and we could do without filling it out.

And finally ...

The lack of plan of many governments to deal with the pandemic has also hit the aviation industry in full. Bureaucrats gone wild are perpetuating themselves with small and small regulations, constantly new forms and constantly changing travel guidelines. Airlines do the rest by trying to implement the regulations without resistance and sometimes hardly in terms of ridiculousness (distance rules in the airport bus). At the same time, all airlines suggest that flying is not contagious. A communicative contradiction. The distance to the customer has meanwhile led to the fact that one seriously believes that tests at the gate will bring the number of passengers up again. That will not work in 100 years - especially if you have to wait months for reimbursement. Corona is the chance that airlines will radically rethink their relationship with customers. This would require a solidarity with the bureaucracy. Because only when the airline has carried out the last flight will you realize that bureaucrats don't buy plane tickets ...

Author
This guest comment was made by Gunther Pitterka written.