I won’t be flying until there is a vaccine, or treatment. So, I guess probably a whole year and not more. Thankfully we have a vacation cottage we go to all the time (135 miles away), so I do feel like we get away and I don’t feel the need to travel all summer.
But we love to travel In the fall, so that’s when I’ll get annoyed. And I think it’s going to get really bad then, so I’m just staying home, not even driving anywhere.
I have taken three air travels so far since the opening. Another one scheduled in two weeks. In the last trip coming back, I was stuck in the tarmac for an hour. So far, I am fine. If I survive that trip, I could feel pretty confident whatever precaution I am taking is working reasonably well.
Or it could mean no one on that plane had Covid. You can’t catch what isn’t there. There’s no way to know.
Too bad the virus doesn’t produce purple spray or something so we all could know. Solving the Covid problem would be easy…
Just read that United and American intend to sell all seats. So no more empty middles I guess. Article said they would let people rebook at no charge (I guess if uncomfortable with full plane?)
Rebooking only helps if you can find a flight that isn’t full and you have the ability to delay your trip. Neither is guaranteed.
Rebooking doesn’t do a speck of good if it will mean you miss the event you are heading to…because the airline changed their middle seat policy after you made your reservations.
We have reservations on United which is an airline we seldom use. Can’t remember the last United flight I took. They pledged NOT to book middle seats. In fact, when we changed the reservation to return sooner, the middle seats were not available to be chosen. This was two weeks ago. So…we choose a window and an aisle. Now they are filling those middle seats. I’m guessing the middle seat person will be happy to switch with one of us…but call me disgusted.
Bait and switch. I’ve be mad too.
You have every right to be angry, @thumper1.
Made the 850 mile trip from SC to CT yesterday and I can confirm that YES people are out and about. I-95 yesterday was pretty crowded all the way up the coast.
In our SC beach house community (it’s a neighborhood of residential homes, a mix of rentals and full-timers), our beach (it’s public) was MUCH more crowded than normal. Still plenty of room for social distancing, but we did notice much more activity than normal. Hard to tell if it was locals or tourists…perhaps people were doing fewer non-beach activities? In any event, people everywhere, and of course stats in SC are not looking good.
Now beginning my 14 day quarantine since we’ve returned to CT from a “hotspot”. Tomorrow we get tested. Does anyone know, if the test comes back negative, does that “suffice” as quarantine? Enquiring minds want to know…
In my experience, American Airlines never intended to keep middle seats empty. For a while they were empty since the plane was empty and they allowed passengers to move around. Out of my three flights with AA, only the first one had middle seats empty. In the second flight I had, some middle seats were empty. The third one I just took was fully booked including middle seats. I didn’t get any email about the flight being fully booked. Had I requested, would they have switched me for another flight without charging the booking price difference? That is if I can change my schedule and find a flight that is not fully booked. I think they cancel flights to consolidate passengers into fewer flights. That means it is highly likely they will all be fully booked.
@thumper1, you can’t trust United for anything.
Delta seems to still have middle seats empty. I am glad I mostly Fly Delta. American and United seem to no longer care. Also there is Southwest.
Our daughter is coming to visit soon. She is flying Southwest then American. It’s going to be so good to see her.
@jym626 I’m still doing a lot of waffling. My spouse also has an issue with frequently needing restrooms. (actually more concerned about the potential difficulty of finding restrooms in time if some are closed.) It is already stressful to travel with his health issues. He really should not be going anywhere with the virus. But he wants to go, and his health always gets a boost from being at the ocean. And on the other hand, he doesn’t want to take risks with his health right now.
The older generation we would be visiting has a more casual attitude towards the virus, despite high risk factors in addition to age. They are not at all concerned about hosting us, which seems a little odd to me…no matter how careful we are, we will have potential exposure if we travel. I would feel much better about it if we were going to be in a house by ourselves when we first arrive, and then we could mask and social distance when we spent time with them. But we would be in their house.
So overall, I would say no if it were just me. I am susceptible to everyone else’s arguments that if we skip this year, we have no way of knowing if we can do next year: the old folks will be that much older, health issues may be worse, etc.
I am the biggest COVID-weenie you could imagine. I can count on one hand how many times I have been to the grocery store in the past three months (H does the grocery shopping now, and he usually shops every two weeks.) I’m pretty much the homebody that some people make fun of, but that’s okay with me - I’m not much of a risk-taker, and I’ll own it.
BUT - my only child had my first grandchild in mid-February (luckily before the SIP orders took place, so we were able to see GS the day after he was born). My D, her H, and GS all live about 700 miles away.
Earlier this month my H and I made the 11-hour drive to visit… Before we left, H and I self-isolated in our home for 14 days, and my D and her family did the same. We brought our own food for the trip and stopped only to get gas. Believe it or not, I didn’t even use the bathroom until we arrived at D’s house. (I may be a COVID-weenie, but I have a super-bladder.)
Was it worth it? To me, it was. I was afraid of infecting my D and her family, and she was afraid of infecting H and me, but the self-imposed quarantine helped alleviate those fears. So far, it looks like we’re all okay, and I’m hoping to go back to visit before summer ends.
Not going to fly for a long, long time. Cancelled our planned vacation this year. On the other hand, we DID visit our grandson. Sometimes when risk aversion and new grandchildren go head-to-head, the most unlikely things happen.
700 miles in 11 hours with no stops means someone needs to drive faster LOL ?.
@orangepurple - I am with you— I’d rather wait, though I’d like to see the family. If we go we will shorten the trip.
ha ha @Sybylla - part of that drive is through Chicago, so we have to go slower for that segment, We have made the trip in 10.5 hours, which is pretty good!
@scout59 I can’t believe you didn’t have to stop to use the bathroom!
But a trip like that, with isolating yourself first and then just stopping for gas, seems perfectly safe to me. And I would even feel safe using the bathroom.
I would definitely do that kind of travel or the kind where you drive to a lake house or mountain cabin and just keep to yourselves there.
@orangepurple - yeah, looks like bladder control is one of my superpowers.