I’ve had plans for months to visit Las Vegas next weekend, but the basketball tournament being canceled sort of rained on that parade.
I’m debating on keeping my arrangements anyway, and I keep thinking that the airports and airplanes must be ghost towns (which is ideal for me). It would remind me of the flight I took on 9/26/2001 where I had most of the airport and airplane all to myself.
Not interested in debating the merits of going / not going to Las Vegas (I’m already following that other related thread), but I’m curious about any first-hand flying experiences from the last 24 - 72 hrs.
My wife had to take a flight yesterday (3/12), from O’Hare to West Palm Beach. She said that the plane was only about half-full, the first time she’d flown on that route in years when it wasn’t 100% full.
She reported that ORD was pretty quiet, but it was also 6am on a Thursday.
Not really an answer to the OP’s question, but here on the west coast 6am is peak time at most airports, since that’s when eastbound flights have to leave to arrive at their destinations at a reasonable time. I’ve overheard newbie travelers who didn’t think they needed to arrive the recommended 1.5 hours before their flight because they assumed things would be really quiet that early in the morning, only to be shocked by the length of the security line. But ORD’s in the central time zone, so it’s probably different.
More to the OP’s question, while I haven’t flown lately, some of my coworkers are talking about how ridiculously cheap air fares are right now, and thinking of taking advantage of them for a really cheap vacation. If fares are that low, that’s a good sign that they’re having trouble filling seats.
Probably not so useful, since we flew Barcelona to Zurich, but the plane was almost full, probably because the 3rd flight was canceled, and there were Americans trying to catch a connecting flight to NY (quite a few, actually). Both airports were a bit emptier than normal, but not as empty as the train stations.
I flew from Denver to Seattle yesterday. The Denver airport was normal as far as I could tell. Long lines, lots of people. The flight was full. SeaTac more hand sanitizer available, but otherwise seemed normal.
I took two flights on Monday - Monday morning a little more than half full, Monday evening a little more than 3/4 full. Based on my observations, the people normally in airplanes are all in grocery stores instead.
I flew to Phoenix from Seattle on the fifth, the flight was full and airport was fairly full. Phoenix wasn’t quite as busy but still had a lot more than last June when I was there. Sky Harbor was pretty busy when I left on the 10th, the flight was 95% full, SeaTac was pretty busy when I arrived. There was no real panic in the Phoenix area, all the news was about other places. The spring training game I attended was fairly full and the touristy places had lots of folks. With spring training cancelled, I would guess there are fewer folks visiting the Phoenix area today.
Flew from Detroit Metro to DFW int’l on Thursday, and back today. Flight up had multiple empty seats … flight back was easily half empty. Had the whole damn row to myself. Shuttle drivers commented that it was a ghost town, compared to what they’re used to seeing, at both ends.
Oh, and Dallas roads were DEAD this morning. Granted, it’s Sunday, but there’s still usually significant church traffic.
I glew into O’Hare on Saturday afternoon, around 2pm. It was a flight from New Orleans and every seat was occupied. The terminal seemed maybe a little more quiet than usual, hard to tell. But the rideshare waiting area was totally empty (it’s often packed) and the upper deck (departures) had so few cars driving past that it was eerie. I understand things were a LOT different in the international terminal.
My son flew from Seattle to Calgary yesterday for a business meeting today. SEATAC was deserted; he posted a photo of the empty airport on FB. He had no problem at Calgary, although today Trudeau announced that for the time being only Canadian and US citizens and permanent residents can come to Canada. Unfortunately my son found out today that the meeting had been cancelled. Now he’s got to hope he can get back to Seattle without problems. Of course, he will clear US customs in Calgary.
I forgot to mention that the plane was half full and they put him in first class by way of spreading people out.
TSA reports passenger throughput noticeably down starting last week, but of course that is not an across-the-board thing and the cuts in international routes may account for the bulk of it.
We can’t go on a planned trip to Washington, and can’t use our airline tickets. I’m trying to do research on whether they’ll refund our money due to the virus, but so far I think the best we can hope for is a credit against any future flights. Tomorrow morning I think I’ll call Alaska Air and see if I’m understand this right. The credit would be good until sometime in November, but I don’t think I’ll have any vacation left at that point. My firm is closed through April 7, and we have to use our own vacation and sick time as pay for the duration.
A coworker took an (inside US) flight for business on Monday - he reports that the xray belt was turned off when he got to the checkpoint; the TSA guys had to turn it on for him.