Silverrails

With this dangerous Covid19 wreaking havoc on the Airline industry, I wanted to ask my fellow U.H.H. opinions, and if any, experiences on a recent fight in the U.S.
Question for you is; did you feel confident that the airline took adequate precautions to protect their flying? customers. What precautions did you observe or were lacking?
I am hoping to be able to fly to Florida for a vacation sometime this winter.

RichJ207 Loc: Sammamish, WA

Winter is many lifetimes away. Everything changes daily with the various airlines and state/local rules.

Brian S. Loc: Oak Park, MI

Currently Florida is one of the worst destinations due to their Covid-19 problem which is getting worse daily.

In my opinion.

NJphotodoc Loc: Now in the First State

As both a physician and a business traveler, I have chosen NOT to fly for a number of reasons.

First, your travel is not just in the plane, but your risk of exposure begins as you enter the airport. These are areas of high concentration and the obvious risk of contamination is ever present. Plus you must come into physical contact with surfaces such as baggage belts at TSA checkpoints, chairs, etc. where you cannot guarantee they are properly sanitized to protect you and others. While airports do look to maintain social distancing, it is easier said than done especially when boarding and deplaning.

Airlines are in the business of making money and not keeping you safe from contracting an illness. As an example, AA recently announced they will no longer keep the middle seat open to lower the risk of contamination. Yes, you must wear a mask and no food will be served, however as most flights are turned around in a short period of time, you have to decide if the airplane you will be flying on for perhaps upwards of 3+ hrs heading to Florida will provide you with adequate protection against a disease with a high probability of airborne and contact contamination. Once you land you still have to walk through high-concentration spaces to leave the airport and claim you bags. And finally, you most likely have to rent a car or take a cab/Uber which can further increase your risk of exposure.

In my own situation, we had a large family event planned for late August in S. Florida. The host took the decision to cancel the celebration and to move the date so that the actual ceremony could be seen on ZOOM by family and friends. No one has complained and most have actually thanked the hosts for recognizing that maintaining one's health is more important than a 4-hr gathering.

Hopefully by winter things will return to normal (or whatever normal will be) however FL is experiencing an explosion of COVID-19 and when you factor the reality that we still have to contend with a Flu outbreak beginning in the Fall, you may want to plan otherwise. In any case, please stay healthy and just be smart to protect both you and your loved ones.

bpulv Loc: Buena Park, CA

DaveO Loc: Northeast CT

There is no substitute for taking your own precautions.

IDguy Loc: Idaho

I don’t plan to travel by air until I have a vaccine and the new virus cases are way down. I can travel anywhere I need to go in my SCUBA unit. ( Self Contained Ultimate Biohazard Avoidance, aka RV).

NJphotodoc Loc: Now in the First State

I have friends who are docs and nurses who are now parked and living n their RVs and trailers on the hospital property. They even have electric and water hook-ups. Except for emptying the black water holding tanks, they say it's not too bad.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

Consider driving. The air systems in planes are not safe for COVID19 plus most airlines are packing in 3 across. No thanks.A doctors recommendation to my daughter.

chrissybabe Loc: New Zealand

Well here is the thing. If everybody behaved and did social distancing there would be no Flu outbreak since the things that stop the spread of the CCP virus also will stop the spread of flu.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I don't plan to fly ever again, not because of Covid, but because of the airline policies. From what I've seen and heard, the airlines are doing fine financially, especially with the billions in taxpayer money Trump gave them.

With over a hundred people sitting side by side for hours, what can the airline do? They will keep you apart in the waiting area and then sit you side by side in the plane.

berchman Loc: South Central PA

Driving is much better than flying, but stops to use the toilet expose one to significant risk.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

Agree with this doc. As a Florida physician, I would also add that Florida is doing very little to mitigate the COVID-19 impact here - they have at least closed the bars, but there is no mask mandate on a state-wide basis, and just going to the grocery store exposes you to around 60% of your fellow customers who have declined to wear masks for whatever selfish and/or stupid reason they have. I would be happy to NOT be in Florida right now....

traderjohn Loc: New York City

"From what I've seen and heard, the airlines are doing fine financially, especially with the billions in taxpayer money Trump gave them"
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/business/coronavirus-airlines-bailout-treasury-department.html
I don't know how you can say the airlines are "doing fine financially", where did you get that information?

berchman Loc: South Central PA

I try to fly only Asian airlines; the American airlines are bad. But if sometime in the future I'm still alive and ambulatory, I want to go to Ethiopia, the Punjab region of India, Greece, Norway, and Northeast Italy and I can't get there by ship, which would be worse than flying anyway. That future is looking mighty distant.