Flying to and from Fuerteventura post COVID-19 crisis

[Ducks]

Anybody know how long it's taking to get through security here at the moment?

We will be travelling soon and do not want to spend any longer in the airport than we have to, but obviously we cannot risk missing the flight! If anyone has gone through lately, or knows someone who has, insight would be really appreciated.

Well, I guess I can answer my own question now! 

Landside: didn’t really explore this as we were eager to get through security in case there were new measures and a longer delay, sorry.

Security: normal international area was shut down, all passengers routed through the smaller Canary-only area. Security very thorough, and took slightly longer than normal, but only marginally. Little plastic booties available for those whose shoes have to be removed. No other new measures, though: no temperature taking or COVID testing or anything else. 

Airside: almost everything closed down. In summary:

• The entire left and right sides of the airport were roped off; only the middle bit around the duty-free was open.
  
• Duty free shop was open with reduced stock, and all perfume and other testers have been removed. 
  
• The cafe at the far left of the terminal is open, but all other food outlets are closed.
  
• The newsagent, sweet shop, souvenir, and clothes shops are all closed. 
  
• Half the vending machines are emptied and unplugged. 
  
• All available power outlets have been disconnected, so charge devices before you go!
  
• All bathrooms bar the one beside the Burger King are closed, and half the toilets in there are roped off. 
  
• The main terrace is closed, but the smoking area is open. 
  
• Every second seat is marked with a “maintain the distance” notice, and there are stickers on the floor to assist with distanced queuing. 
  
• People are absolutely queuing for flights, and boarding is still first-come-first-served.
  
• Absolutely everyone wearing masks at all times except when eating. 
  
• Passport/Border control did not ask for mask removal. 
  

We were there much longer than we needed to be because we arrived early to be sure we’d have time to navigate any new measures. When it’s quiet, the reduced space is sufficient, but during the “swells” before a bunch of flights go, its uncomfortably packed, and the queues for the bathroom and restaurant are unpleasantly long. We did feel  “under threat” during those periods as it’s the most people we’ve been around, and for the longest time, since lockdown started. I think we got a bit institutionalised over the quarantine— shades of the Shawshank Redemption, I suppose!

There were 63 people off our plane, and I would say maybe 25 returning. Everyone wearing masks both ways. Ryanair staff were very pleasant, but there was absolutely zero disinfection of the plane between people leaving and boarding. If the flight had been more full, I would have been very uncomfortable. As it was, it was quite tolerable, even if we did feel like everything was a bit of a risk. Brought our own disinfectant and wiped everything down, but didn't see anyone else doing the same. The biggest differences was that queuing for the toilets was not permitted, there were no hot drinks, and no magazines. Otherwise, business as usual. 

Hope that’s useful to someone who might be heading out soon!

[Rasputin]

Anybody know how long it's taking to get through security here at the moment?

We will be travelling soon and do not want to spend any longer in the airport than we have to, but obviously we cannot risk missing the flight! If anyone has gone through lately, or knows someone who has, insight would be really appreciated.

Well, I guess I can answer my own question now! 

Landside: didn’t really explore this as we were eager to get through security in case there were new measures and a longer delay, sorry.

Security: normal international area was shut down, all passengers routed through the smaller Canary-only area. Security very thorough, and took slightly longer than normal, but only marginally. Little plastic booties available for those whose shoes have to be removed. No other new measures, though: no temperature taking or COVID testing or anything else. 

Airside: almost everything closed down. In summary:

• The entire left and right sides of the airport were roped off; only the middle bit around the duty-free was open.
  
• Duty free shop was open with reduced stock, and all perfume and other testers have been removed. 
  
• The cafe at the far left of the terminal is open, but all other food outlets are closed.
  
• The newsagent, sweet shop, souvenir, and clothes shops are all closed. 
  
• Half the vending machines are emptied and unplugged. 
  
• All available power outlets have been disconnected, so charge devices before you go!
  
• All bathrooms bar the one beside the Burger King are closed, and half the toilets in there are roped off. 
  
• The main terrace is closed, but the smoking area is open. 
  
• Every second seat is marked with a “maintain the distance” notice, and there are stickers on the floor to assist with distanced queuing. 
  
• People are absolutely queuing for flights, and boarding is still first-come-first-served.
  
• Absolutely everyone wearing masks at all times except when eating. 
  
• Passport/Border control did not ask for mask removal. 
  

We were there much longer than we needed to be because we arrived early to be sure we’d have time to navigate any new measures. When it’s quiet, the reduced space is sufficient, but during the “swells” before a bunch of flights go, its uncomfortably packed, and the queues for the bathroom and restaurant are unpleasantly long. We did feel  “under threat” during those periods as it’s the most people we’ve been around, and for the longest time, since lockdown started. I think we got a bit institutionalised over the quarantine— shades of the Shawshank Redemption, I suppose!

There were 63 people off our plane, and I would say maybe 25 returning. Everyone wearing masks both ways. Ryanair staff were very pleasant, but there was absolutely zero disinfection of the plane between people leaving and boarding. If the flight had been more full, I would have been very uncomfortable. As it was, it was quite tolerable, even if we did feel like everything was a bit of a risk. Brought our own disinfectant and wiped everything down, but didn't see anyone else doing the same. The biggest differences was that queuing for the toilets was not permitted, there were no hot drinks, and no magazines. Otherwise, business as usual. 

Hope that’s useful to someone who might be heading out soon!

[milestone11]

Did you end up in Zihuatanejo?

[Ducks]

Hi Ducks were you coming or going?

Going. We were supposed to go home in May!

Did you end up in Zihuatanejo?

Sadly, no: I left it behind instead!  Hoping to head back soon, though, assuming the flights continue. Being stuck in Fuerte was a little nerve-wracking from a practicality perspective, but I would certainly prefer to be in lockdown there than home.

[Rome77]

First flight from UK has arrived Ryanair from London Stanstead- 

Seeing as this is my first post - first of all big thanks to all the contributors to this forum: it's an invaluable source of information!

We were actually on that Stansted-Fuerte flight last Saturday 27th June (we being myself, wife and two kids aged 6 and 8). We hadn't been to our house here in Fuerte since Christmas, and with wife (teacher) and kids on summer holiday and I being able to work remotely, we were pretty keen on getting a break from our London lockdown flat. So we kitted up pretty heavily with PPE and took the plunge and flew back out here again. Some observations from our trip:

• We arrived Stansted airport around 4am, and unsurprisingly, there were not many people around.
  
• There were "distancing" signs on the floor several places were queues would form, for example baggage check in.
  
• Security was quite well organized and went fairly quickly.
  
• We boarded fairly late so no queuing there
  
• The flight was about 2/3 full I reckon. We managed to get consecutive rows with two of us in each row and third seat free, which was good. We pre-booked seats.
  
• Crew informed that masks had to be worn throughout the flight except when eating and drinking. Some passengers were very "relaxed" with their mask use; some not wearing them at all for prolonged periods while others were wearing it improperly (not covering the nose for example).
  
• Crew were pleasant enough but did little to encourage more/better mask use from what I could see.
  
• With this being Ryanair, they seemed to operate a full menu of hot food, snacks, alcohol etc.
  
• The fasten seat belt sign was on throughout the flight which helped reduce people movement during the flight. Only the toilet at the back was available for use, and then you had to ask a crew first to use it (to avoid queues forming). Some people were still moving around quite a lot though; probably because they had friends/family seated elsewhere and wanted to talk to them. Again I didn't see crew discourage people for making "social visits" during the flight.
  
• We sat towards the front and got out of the aircraft fairly quickly after landing. On our way to immigration there was a Police officer checking that everybody was wearing a mask. One person walking in front of me was stopped by the office and not allowed to continue as he didn't have a mask (no idea what then happened as we continued towards immigration).
  
• There were signs on the floor encouraging distancing which seemed to work well.
  
• After immigration everybody were having their temperature taken by "temperature guns" used from a distance
  
• By the time we got to the luggage belt our suitcases were already there waiting for us, and off we went.
  

One thing to mention is that while our Stansted experience was quite good, you have to bear in mind that this was with extremely limited passenger numbers. I think it will be impossible for staff to have crowd control when the numbers are getting large again. I also noticed that while airport staff (e.g. through security) in the UK were wearing a simple surgical mask, I saw several officers/staff in the airport in Fuerte wearing a higher level of protection FFP type masks. This sort of confirms my perception that officials/people here generally take the "situation" more seriously than in the UK.

We're currently doing a self-imposed 14 day quarantine in case we've caught anything during our travel (so far so good!). We've got plenty of outdoor balcony space though and it's been lovely to be back!

Any questions about our travel experience, do let me know.

[Johnrgby]

Welcome to the Forum, your info will be greatly appreciated.

[classic]

Thank you for doing your self imposed quarantine and helping to keep us all safe.

[Captain Sensible]

Thanks for the update Rome77.

Did the cabin crew move people around to space them out as the plane wasn't full?

[Ducks]

Thanks for the update Rome77.

Did the cabin crew move people around to space them out as the plane wasn't full?

They certainly didn't on our flight, though they made an announcement that anyone was free to move to an unoccupied row if they so chose.

They weren't stringently enforcing the loo/call system, either. They allowed us to use it as long as nobody was in it, and since there were so few of us, there was no real need to queue. All three toilets were available for use, too.

Maybe they decided to lock them down on Rome's flight so they can clean them more frequently? Same mindset between locking down space in the airport, even if it means heavier traffic and higher chance of catching something...

[Can the Man]

Yes welcome to the forum Rome77, thank you for your observation report. Looking forward to seeing some more reports of how you are finding things on the island. Where are you staying?