Our flight back from Malta last night …

**WileyCoyote** · 13 Oct 21, 02:25 PM

Was delayed because the Malta authorities apparently now won’t allow a departing flight to leave until every passenger who arrived on the earlier inbound leg has cleared immigration. Which is of course taking a bit longer with the additional covid checks.

Last night one passenger (who we were told had transited through London from the USA) didn’t pass the paperwork checks and the aircraft was not allowed to leave until said passenger and bags were checked onto the flight. And that took a bit of time …

This didn’t make for a very happy plane load of people especially as we had earlier been told we were all set to depart ahead of time. The First Officer was excellent though walking through the cabin and keeping everyone updated.

It also meant we landed at Heathrow after it had officially closed and with 2 minutes to midnight to spare before everyone’s passenger locator forms ended up with the wrong date on them!

On the upside, there was no queue at border control and straight through to an empty baggage hall. We went from leaving our aircraft seats to getting in our taxi in a record 18 minutes. Albeit almost two hours later than planned.

I am always a bit anxious about the official paperwork for flights and last night really does go to show you have to check and double check everything right until you set off with the different requirements for each country at the moment.

Was lovely to get away though so worth the paperwork hassle!

JudyC · 13 Oct 21, 02:39 PM

Oh dear , it sounds like a stressful end to your holiday. We are due to travel home from Dubrovnik tomorrow, it was just a short four night break for us.
Coming in was a doddle , we just showed passports and had our covid certificate folded inside them. I guess they were checked but our passports were handed back quickly and we were out of the airport in a few minutes as only had carry on cases.
I've done our locator forms for the UK now, hoping all goes smoothly
We are due in at home early afternoon.

waiting4disney · 13 Oct 21, 03:23 PM

Oh no shame about the delay but amazing quick immigrations at Heathrow.
Hope you had a great time.

**mushumadness** · 13 Oct 21, 04:35 PM

Gosh that sounds awfull
I wonder if that’ll happen to us we are in Rhodes right now

**WileyCoyote** · 13 Oct 21, 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by JudyC

Oh dear , it sounds like a stressful end to your holiday. We are due to travel home from Dubrovnik tomorrow, it was just a short four night break for us.
Coming in was a doddle , we just showed passports and had our covid certificate folded inside them. I guess they were checked but our passports were handed back quickly and we were out of the airport in a few minutes as only had carry on cases.
I've done our locator forms for the UK now, hoping all goes smoothly
We are due in at home early afternoon.

Safe and smooth travels ! Hope you have had a lovely time. It was certainly an unusual end to the trip last night.

Originally Posted by waiting4disney

Oh no shame about the delay but amazing quick immigrations at Heathrow.
Hope you had a great time.

Yes it was weird with it being completely empty! Had its benefits ..

Originally Posted by mushumadness

Gosh that sounds awfull
I wonder if that’ll happen to us we are in Rhodes right now

Ah hopefully not. The pilots said they had not come across this particular situation before. Hope you are having a lovely time and have a good travel day back home.

13 Oct 21, 02:39 PM	#2
	13 Oct 21, 02:39 PM JudyC Imagineer
JudyC Imagineer Join Date: May 05	Oh dear , it sounds like a stressful end to your holiday. We are due to travel home from Dubrovnik tomorrow, it was just a short four night break for us. Coming in was a doddle , we just showed passports and had our covid certificate folded inside them. I guess they were checked but our passports were handed back quickly and we were out of the airport in a few minutes as only had carry on cases. I've done our locator forms for the UK now, hoping all goes smoothly We are due in at home early afternoon. __________________ 2018 Vegas & San Diego 2017 Vegas/Arizona/Utah 2013 New York/Vegas/California 2010 California 2000 2004 2006 2008 2011 2015 Nov 24 in planning mode Florida 93 94 03 2023 DLP