Bula readers! After so long the airlines are finally getting back to some normalcy.
It is certainly a great move, but it also comes with restrictions. This week, I am flying to Sydney then onto Brisbane to spend a week with my elderly parents who are just a joy to be with.
Pre flight
Before you can begin your departure there comes the small matter of getting a Rapid Antigen Test also known as RAT. In order to fly anywhere nowadays you will need to take one of these COVID tests as the very basic requirement to travel no longer than 24 hours before you fly, which is a fairly simple process.
To add to this if you are travelling to Australia you will also need to fill in an online declaration form which isn’t hard to complete.
Probably the hardest document to secure is obtaining our local Ministry of Health vaccination certificate which is certainly an extreme challenge to get.
To add to this one of my female family members has received her vaccination certificate document in her maiden name as per her birth certificate.
Now the real problems have started as her passport is in her married name, and the names now don’t match.
After consultation, the only viable option was to change her birth certificate name to her married name which is in process. This will now delay everything and also her flight plans have to be delayed or canceled.
If you are a male then it should be less stressful as your married name is generally your birth certificate name, but still the rules and regulations of Government are completely baffling.
For my vaccination certificate unfortunately when it arrived it had my sons name on it and after consultation it was deemed I could not board any flight if a different name was on my passport and a different name was on my vaccination certificate. It was only thanks to the wonderful staff at MOH that this has been rectified and I was finally cleared to fly.
We must be forgiving in life and I certainly forgive whoever has put these impractical and restricting rules in place, but these new rules are just hurting people wanting to travel and certainly not helping them.
Flight day
Well what can you say, I was up early and looking forward to my latest flying adventure, unfortunately as we arrived at Nausori Airport it was like entering an old hot and unkept warehouse from the 1950s, it really is in a shocking state of disrepair of which I am sure Airports Fiji would know has needed urgent refurbishment for years.
The saving grace was the wonderful and tentative Fiji Airways staff, who assisted every passenger as best they could through the new complex security and health checks.
Once we boarded the domestic flight from Suva to Nadi the real Fiji Airways experience began, with a smooth and efficient flight on the modern ATR 72 aircraft which took only 25 minutes.
After this it was plain sailing as they say, the arrival at Nadi International Airport always amazes me, as for a relatively small airport it looks very impressive and has a customer friendly environment.
We navigated smoothly through security checks and border control and on to a world class Fiji Airways A350 XWB . The flight itself was smooth and efficient, with the cabin crew paying special attention to the young travelers and older passengers who may have needed a little extra help, which was indeed nice to see.
About three hours and 48 minutes later we touched down at Sydney International Airport, the actual flight time is shorter than driving from Suva to Nadi along our dangerous pot-holed roads.
Conclusion
Well the good news is that Fiji Airways continue to have one of the best trained and attentive airline staff in the world, only rivaled by elite airlines like Emirates and Singapore Airlines.
The bad news is that the Government continues to be inefficient with all their enforced rules and regulations which only hinders the public who want to help support the airline industry, but are unable to do so.
Adios from Sydney and see you in Brisbane next week.
- AJAY BHAI AMRIT isa founding member of The Peoples Alliance party and is also a freelance writer. The views expressed in this article are his and does not necessarily reflect the views of this newspaper.
