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Airline Travel

Planes are the cleanest now that they have ever been and are not as crowded as they used to be.

We flew to NC about a month ago to get out of the terrible wildfire smoke here in PDX. I agree with the bolded, but the underlined was not our experience. All legs of the trip (two planes there and back) were full flights.

Everyone wore masks, we stayed contained (as best as we could with an 11 month old), and we wiped down everything before we sat/touched things. It was a little anxiety-inducing, but honestly didn't feel that much more risky than going to the grocery store with a few local knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers who won't wear masks.

The part that makes it scary is that you're going to visit someone. Normally when you're going out, the risk is just to you (and others who are out, but obviously they've chosen to go out as well and assume that risk). I mean, yes - my parents said we could come escape to their house and they trust we've been handling ourselves safely (and we them), but I didn't really relax until we were all two weeks out from everything and still safe/healthy.
 
We flew to NC about a month ago to get out of the terrible wildfire smoke here in PDX. I agree with the bolded, but the underlined was not our experience. All legs of the trip (two planes there and back) were full flights.

Everyone wore masks, we stayed contained (as best as we could with an 11 month old), and we wiped down everything before we sat/touched things. It was a little anxiety-inducing, but honestly didn't feel that much more risky than going to the grocery store with a few local knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers who won't wear masks.

The part that makes it scary is that you're going to visit someone. Normally when you're going out, the risk is just to you (and others who are out, but obviously they've chosen to go out as well and assume that risk). I mean, yes - my parents said we could come escape to their house and they trust we've been handling ourselves safely (and we them), but I didn't really relax until we were all two weeks out from everything and still safe/healthy.

I thought they were supposed to leave the middle seats open to maintain "Six Feet" of distance between passengers. Glad you escaped all 100% healthy.
 
I thought they were supposed to leave the middle seats open to maintain "Six Feet" of distance between passengers. Glad you escaped all 100% healthy.

I think some airlines are doing this (I know Alaska is, for example). But I believe American Airlines (what we flew) is just touting their new cleaning protocol as their safety measure.

If we fly again any time soon, we'll absolutely go for an airline that keeps middle seats open (heck, if nothing else just for the lap infant). This trip was more of an emergent reaction to circumstances; we bought tickets less than 48hrs out from flying.
 
Southwest still keeps the middle seat open, maybe just until the end of Oct. A long flight with someone sitting right next to you es no bueno.
 
Wife has flown to Seattle, San Fran, San Diego, Phoenix, Austin and Nashville for work in last 4 mos. I’ve flown to OH 3 times (emptying and selling parents home after moving them to assisted living). Living in ATL we go Delta and they are awesome. No one in middle seats and passengers spread out as much as possible. Also helps that wife’s status means she basically goes first class 95% of the time.
 
We are headed to St. John tomorrow... First flight since the whole pandemic thing started. We haven't even eaten inside a restaurant. Little anxious but not going to pass up St. John! Had to get a negative covid test and upload it to the VI travel portal. My wife will wipe everything down as soon as we get on the plane, I am sure... AA already emailed us and said the flights are packed and asking for volunteers to change flights. Great!

Staying at Caneel Bay by any chance? Great place
 
Delta was awesome. Helped that we were in Comfort+ which was almost entirely empty in addition to the middle seats open, but everyone was very good about wearing masks, FAs super nice and attentive, etc. Flights probably ~40% full. I've heard from friends that American is awful, and I've gotten the "we're overbooked, consider changing flights" email on a flight to NYC I was about to cancel.

Airports were somewhat a different story. I was shocked how packed both CLT and SLC were, with no social distancing in the security line at CLT. Close to 100% mask wearing, but probably only 75% wearing them properly. On the other hand, the brand new terminal at SLC is one of the nicest airports, if not the nicest, I've been in.
 
Risk of COVID-19 exposure on planes 'virtually nonexistent' when masked, study shows
It was conducted by the Department of Defense and United Airlines.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ris...irtually-nonexistent-masked/story?id=73616599

The mannequin was equipped with an aerosol generator that allowed technicians to reproduce breathing and coughing. Each test released 180 million particles - equivalent to the number of particles that would be produced by thousands of coughs. They studied the way the mannequin's particles moved inside the cabin with a mask on and off.

The tests assumed the flight was completely full with technicians placing sensors in seats, galleys, and the jet bridge to represent other passengers on the plane.

MORE: US airline launches first COVID-19 testing program of its kind
"99.99% of those particles left the interior of the aircraft within six minutes," United Airlines Chief Communication Officer Josh Earnest told ABC News. "It indicates that being on board an aircraft is the safest indoor public space, because of the unique configuration inside an aircraft that includes aggressive ventilation, lots of airflow."

Among 1.2 billion travelers, IATA found only 44 published cases of potential inflight transmission. Most of those 44 cases occurred in the early days of the pandemic when masks were not required.
 
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