How does air travel look like through COVID-19 pandemic?

So, they say that having 200 people tightly packed in a steel tube 37,000 feet up in the air is safer than having an indoor dinner at a restaurant. They documented that the entire cabin’s fresh air gets replaced every three minutes and throughout the process 99.7% of all bacteria gets killed. 

Okay so lets start from the moment you arrive at your airport. You cannot enter a US airport without having a face mask. Then if you have luggage you go and check that in….that process has not really changed since the pandemic started. Once you get that done you head toward the TSA check and that’s pretty standard except that there are basically no lines to get through. I’ve personally flew at all times of the day during the last five months and have never encountered a line longer than 3 people.   

Once you clear that its time to get to your gate and that’s when things get very different. Depending on which airport you’re traveling from you’ll see a difference in the restaurants/stores that are open for travelers. For example, in Newark NJ, you would most likely see 30-40% of the restaurants open vs Houston, TX being 80% open. Also for those that use Frequent Flyer lounges….well you better check the locations and hours that they’re open because its very spotty. 

After all that, it’s time to board your flight and the current boarding process which most airlines have adapted, I must say is much better than what they’ve been previously doing. Boarding from the back to front of the plane….it makes so much more sense. Getting on the plane of course requires you to have a face covering and what people don’t know is that filtered masks are not permitted and you’ll be asked to replace your mask with a full fabric one. Then once you’re on the plane, I must say that these planes are the cleanest I’ve ever seen them…. so a big shout out to all of the staff for keeping them like this. I’m pretty sure that this level of cleanliness will become a norm that would be expected by passengers. During the flight, food/drink choices are very minimal if any so that’s a big disappointment! 

Once you land, majority of airlines deplane only by a section of 5 rows at a time to control the movement in the plane and that seems to be working out quite well. Then you head to get your baggage and that process hasn’t really changed.

All in all, the process is not so bad except if you have issues with wearing a mask for the entire trip but on the upside, you do get quickly through check-in/TSA and planes are super clean. So, if you have to travel trough this pandemic you know what to expect.   

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