Lufthansa Airlines: Face mask requirements for flights

Travel note: Lufthansa Airlines has specific face mask requirements for all passengers who chooses to fly with them.

The new year brought good news for South Africans wanting to travel to Germany as the country was removed from Germany’s list of Areas of Variants of Concern. The move enables South Africans to travel to Germany with Lufthansa Airlines once again.

It has become the norm for passengers to have to wear face masks throughout the entire flying process: from check-in, throughout the flight (except when eating or drinking), to the arrival procedures at the destination airport.

In South Africa, there are no stringent requirements on the type of face masks passengers should wear during flights. So long as one’s mouth and nose are covered by a mask, all is good. The same does not apply when flying with Lufthansa Airlines.

ALSO READ: Germany reopens for South African travellers

LUFTHANSA’S MASK REQUIREMENTS

Forget about using any old face mask for your flight to or from Germany with Lufthansa. Unlike local SA flights to Durban or Cape Town, there are specific requirements for the type of face mask that passengers should wear when travelling with Germany’s national carrier.

Not just any old mask will do when flying with Lufthansa German Airlines. Face masks made of fabric are not allowed. So ditch the funky handmade face mask you bought at the flea market on the weekend. It won’t be allowed. The airline requires passengers to use surgical masks or face masks that meet FFP2, FFP3, KN95 or N95 criteria, and masks may not have a valve.

GERMAN TRAVEL REGULATIONS

Earlier this month South Africa was reclassified by Germany’s Robert Koch Institute as a High-Risk Area, which means that travel is possible. According to the Citizen, travellers must adhere to these regulations:

• All passengers must be in possession of valid travel documents.
• All passengers (aged 6 and over) must carry one of the following medical certificates at the time of departure:
• Proof of vaccination (Analogue or digital proof of a vaccination completed more than 14 days prior)
• Proof of recovery (Digital or analogue PCR / LAMP / TMA test, which is at least 28 days and at most 6 months old.)
• A negative test result (PCR, antigen, RT-LAMP or TMA). The test must not have been carried out more than 48 hours before the scheduled time of departure. If the test is an antigen test, it must have been carried out within 48 hours before arrival in Germany.
• Travellers are required to register on this website: https://www.einreiseanmeldung.de/#/
• All travellers must observe the local German quarantine regulations, with information on this to be found on the website of the German Federal Ministry of Health.
• Passengers with an international connecting flight must take note and comply with the entry regulations of the relevant destination country.
• Surgical masks or face masks with the standard FFP2, FFP3, KN95 and N95, each without a valve and not made of fabric, are mandatory on all Lufthansa flights.

By: Lorne Philpot