COVID-19 Into the cruise The logistics behind repatriating cruise ship passengers rguably, one of the biggest challenges of COVID-19 has been the logistical feat of moving and repatriating millions of people worldwide. British Airways has continued to operate throughout the lockdown period, albeit with a vastly reduced schedule operating mainly freight, and some passenger repatriation flights. I spoke to Toby Joiner, a BA 747 captain, who recounted a recent rescue By Captain Jeremy Feldman, Log Board member flight to Miami. Toby has been at BA for more than 20 years, and worked his way through the company flying the 737, A320 and latterly the 747, where he took his longhaul command. He was called off standby and, perhaps notably, was asked if he would be keen to volunteer for a rescue flight to Miami. He accepted, reported for duty and, despite Heathrow operating only a skeleton schedule of flights, it took him and the rest of the crew half an hour to find the aircraft. It seems the aircraft had been towed to a remote parking stand and nobody knew where it was parked. Some things never change. Operating the flight outbound was uneventful, aside from the 9xxx callsign. The aircraft departed with a full complement of cabin crew. They arrived in Miami and were rostered a 24-hour layover. At that time, Miami was not enacting social-distancing measures to the same level as the UK. The mood there was relaxed. The returning passengers were not so lucky. They were coming back after being in isolation on a cruise ship. Unfortunately, there were a few passengers on board who had contracted COVID-19, and the ship was in forced lockdown. It also had problems being allowed to dock, as initially the port authority had refused. The ground operation in Miami was seemingly well run, professional and well organised Lucky dip This was the first of two flights to repatriate the cruise ship passengers back to the UK, with only 220 passengers on board. The seating was auto-allocated with what seemed like a lucky dip as to those assigned seats to the left of the main galley door and those to the right in economy. The ground operation in Miami was seemingly well run and professional. Most of the passengers were elderly and had spent several weeks social distancing, so were compliant with the cabin crew and were all wearing face masks. The relief at finally going home must have been enormous. Operationally, the crew did not change much minimal presence of cabin crew in the cabin, and drinks and food service on request. The cockpit door was shut for the entire flight, with little to no face-to-face interaction with cabin crew. The top deck of the 747 was also closed to passengers, so the pilots and crew had an undisturbed rest area. From a human viewpoint, the return flight could have been fraught with anxiety. The health of the passengers, pressure to return as fast as possible and the added potential health risks to pilots and crew were all extra pressures. But Toby set the tone. I sat back, relaxed and just got on with it. Worst case scenario, Medlink was always available. For some passengers, the thought of going on holiday again was very far away. But it was not just the passengers who wouldnt be flying again. The aircraft operating the relief flight was brought out of semi-retirement in LHR to operate its last flight before being retired and recycled. Miami, USA: Cruise ships docked at the port because of the COVID-19 pandemic