Yesterday, we flew out of Chicago O’Hare Airport headed for Istanbul, Turkey with a stop at Hamad International Airport in Qatar.
This was our experience:
The first thing we noticed was that one of the busiest if not the busiest airport in the world was so empty. It was kind of surreal since we fly out of this airport so often and had never seen it this empty before. It was also kind of weird being back inside an actual airport after being locked inside my apartment for so long.
Everything else with the check-in process was pretty normal aside from the social distancing rules and getting our temperatures checked. Luckily you don’t need to apply for a VISA to enter turkey if you are American Citizens so all we needed to board the flight was our passports. They also gave us full face shields that we’re required to wear over our masks. Both the mask and face shield are required to be worn at all times and we could only take them off during food service.
Once you enter the plane, you are greeted by flight attendants in full PPE dresses and masks. They also actually spaced out the seating to accommodate for social distancing which was nice.
The rest of the 13hr flight was pretty normal and uneventful. This was the first time international flight I had flown that had free WIFI (didn’t even realize it until halfway through), so I spent most of my time browsing Reddit and watching movies and before I knew it, we arrived at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar. We had a 3hr layover, so we spent some time exploring this pretty much brand-new airport and had a lot of fun. Even though most of the shops were closed, there were so many art installations and sculptures to see, and once we saw everything, there was even a nice resting room where we could lay down and relax. Before we knew it, our time was up and we hopped on our flight to Istanbul. Luckily it was only a 4hr flight. Here are some pics from our transit:
As for Qatar Airways, the precautions taken to ensure safe traveling during a pandemic and the service were top-notch. 5 stars all around. Have flown with them and will fly again.