I was surprised how quiet my flight was yesterday evening. Leaving Washington Reagan on a Friday afternoon is usually packed but the flight was only just over 50% full. The rows reserved for elite status business travelers were particularly empty (and a lot of pre-booked seats were unoccupied, suggesting last minute cancellations). There were quite a few college students going home.
I think most people are being cautious as they don’t want to be infected at Christmas. An industry conference had been planned in Europe next week, all the Americans I know have cancelled to avoid the risk of being stranded there. But we are still planning to go ahead with our trip to see family in the UK next weekend.
I was on a JetBlue red-eye transcontinental flight last night and it was completely full. I looked at a few other JetBlue flights yesterday and today and they were all full.
Traveled to San Jose recently (no, did not get to watch the S-show aka Elisabeth Holmes testimony, ). The flights were 3/4 full. Alaska was very generous with upgrades. The rental cars were relatively cheap ($50 a day) but cars were not plentiful… got to drive around in a clunky Nissan with 56k miles on the odometer (!!). No incidents on any of the flights. Pax were mostly business travels. Seatac was a ZOO, but SJC was like a deserted island. Terminal A has almost no restaurants open.
My D flew back from England two weeks ago and her flight was completely packed. Friends just flew to Hawaii from the south and also had a full flight. Flight capacity seems to be all over the place right now.
D2 flew to NYC on Thursday from San Diego for a long weekend in the city. She said the plane was full. She flies home tomorrow and we’ll she if that flight is also full.
We are going to Cancun end of this week. The hotel will test us before we return to the US and would host us for 15 days for free if we should get tested positive.
Most of our activities will be outdoor. It probably will be safer than getting with my family indoor around NY area.
I grew up just north of NYC and we’ve had a family tradition of taking our kids to NYC around Christmas. Needless to say, we haven’t been there since before the original shut down and are anxious to go back (plans to go next year). I’ve been seeing via friends’ social media that NYC at Christmas seems to be back to normal. Crowds in the backgrounds of pictures look to be pretty typical for the holiday season. But didn’t the NY governor recently issue a state of emergency and additional protection measures? It doesn’t look like NYC has been affected in any way (except I assume masks are still required indoors).
Such a mixed message with travel in general, it’s hard to know what to do. I’ve traveled some to see family and to small friend gatherings but no large-crowd trips yet. I’m having serious FOMO seeing all the NYC pics!
We are finalizing a trip to Spain over Christmas holidays…hoping all works out. Initially it looked like flights, etc would be too expensive but ultimately we found a few great deals…perhaps due to Omicron.
So far this has been the best year to travel in a long while due to diminished crowds…we have been to Germany, Croatia, Portugal and Greece already.
And didn’t I see that NY Eve celebration in Times Square will be back? With some stipulations of people needing to be vaccinated/tested - are they limiting the # of people. That whole crowed situation always made me stressed BEFORE Covid!!!
D2 is heading back to San Diego this morning from NYC through Chicago. She said the middle seat is empty next to her and the first leg of her trip doesn’t have a full plane.
She did say there were a lot of people in NYC, but everywhere she went inside she had to have a mask on and show her digital vaccine card. This is much more than they are doing here in San Diego.
Many travelers are reluctant to travel because they do not want to get stuck due to testing positive and incur unexpected costs. To mitigate that fear, the hotel is taking on that risk. At the same time if the region is having 15 positives a day the risk really isn’t that high for the hotel.
The hotel isn’t doing the test themselves. I am assuming they are hiring certified people to do the tests.
Just changed seats for my daughter’s round trip here from San Diego and back, and my round trip back to SD and then home, and added extra seats when possible. All our flights are now close to the front of the plane. When she and I are flying, I bought the whole row. I feel better, if poorer.
We just got back from NorCal and people are much more diligent about wearing masks up there than they are in San Diego. Wednesday it’s back to masks for everyone indoors, so that may change a bit.
D20’s Birthright Israel trip is still up in the air. The other day we were convinced it was not happening, but I just heard last night that Israel is expected to reopen to foreign travelers on 12/22…she is scheduled to fly there on 12/29. So…maybe it is going to happen?
After nearly two years of this, we’ve gotten pretty good at just going with the flow. Maybe an upside to all this madness
Just read about potential aviation issues with 5G, which is being activated on 1/5 and may affect altimeters (and so would maybe affect landing when visibility is poor). Apparently pilot manuals are being rewritten. I was already nervous about flying so this doesn’t help. Anyone know anything on this?
). The flights were 3/4 full. Alaska was very generous with upgrades. The rental cars were relatively cheap ($50 a day) but cars were not plentiful… got to drive around in a clunky Nissan with 56k miles on the odometer (!!). No incidents on any of the flights. Pax were mostly business travels. Seatac was a ZOO, but SJC was like a deserted island. Terminal A has almost no restaurants open.