When will you resume recreational air travel?

The Quarantine Zone
21

I am waiting until I am fully vaccinated, and since I am in a low-risk group and under 65, I don’t expect to be able to make any trips by air until late summer/fall if everything goes OK.

TBH tho, I am pausing plans for major trips (internationally) until next year, so those destinations have a chance to gain herd immunity. I see no sense in traveling overseas when I can, only to find the destination still locked-down, partially re-opened or in some way compromised. If I am going that far away, I want it to be as open and normal as possible, which includes the people there getting vaccinated and their economies stabilized. This will make for a better experience and investment of my time and $$.

22

My husband is fully vaccinated, but I have yet to receive my first shot. If what I’m reading is true, I should be fully vaccinated by early summer (I hope). Given that, I’d feel safe flying this autumn and I’ve already been in contact with Alaska Air to clarify their credits/extension rules. We have a credit with them from a canceled trip last year and I’m looking forward to using it.

We stay in rural rental homes and spend most of our vacations driving around checking out the countryside and wilderness areas, so we won’t be changing much of what we do on vacation. Hopefully by this autumn the numbers will have improved to the extent that we’d even feel safe having a couple of restaurant meals indoors.

23

Glad this thread was started as I meant to begin one on my recent flying experience. Let’s just say that if I weren’t already vaccinated, I’d be scared as hell right now.

So, as I’ve relayed on these boards already, I was very fortunate in getting vaccinated early. Since I’ve been working from home for a year, and our soonest return to office will be September, I was in a unique position of being able to travel to a warm place and work from there for a while. So I rented a nice beach condo just north of Miami for a month, and flew down here last week. The airport/airplane experience was completely unexpected.

I’ve known a few folks who have taken flights, mostly internationally, during the pandemic and they each told me they felt safe and had great experiences, so I expected the same. I showed up to the airport a good 2.5 hours before my flight, just in case there were any issues, additional COVID protocols, etc. The first thing I noticed was far more people than I expected. I also noticed that they trended on the young 20’s side. Then it hit me: it’s Spring Break!! That had never entered my mind when I booked.

The check-in and security were very smooth, although no one was enforcing social distancing on the waiting lines. Being vaccinated, it didn’t bother me much, but no one else seemed to be complaining. Once I entered the terminal area, things got a bit weird. This was an evening flight, and the first thing I noticed was a group of 5 young people drinking beers right out in the waiting area. Then I noticed another group in line to board their plane with drinks in hand. What I learned is that, due to distancing in the bars and restaurants, people were allowed to bring all drinks and food out into the terminal. The other thing that was very apparent is that eating or drinking something was the only way that you could remove your mask. So what do you think everyone was doing? Yes, constantly eating and drinking. And socializing and breathing all over each other.

I got a great deal for my flight, and paid for 1st Class, as it was cheaper when including my 2 over-sized bags. I’m very grateful to American Airlines for giving me that offer, because the main cabin was packed with groups of tipsy young adults who seemingly are past the pandemic. Every seat was occupied. And of course, just like in the terminal, eating and drinking were the solution to not having to wear that pesky mask. The alcoholic beverages were now replaced with water, but I’d say mask use was 40% at best. Maybe lower, as there is still a significant chunk of the population that believes that moving the mask below the chin still constitutes wearing it.

That was my experience, so felt I should share as some of you consider commercial air travel.

24

Much earlier than I expected. I booked a flight for us to see my parents in May. By that time everyone in our family except my son will be fully vaccinated.

25

I’m wrestling with this question. My husband, parents, in-laws, and I are all vaccinated now, and I’m not terribly afraid of catching the virus on a plane, exactly. Rather, I’m afraid of getting stuck somewhere, especially if I’m sick but even if I end up asymptomatic. My SIL is planning to rent a house on Whidbey Island in Washington State this summer and wants us to come. We live in Southern California. It’s kind of a long drive, but not the longest I’ve ever done. My husband is adamant that he’s either flying or not going, though. I guess my fear is lessened by the fact that we’re talking about a place within the US. I’m not sure when I’ll feel like flying internationally, though I’m up for a road trip down to Ensenada anytime now.

26

We have a European cruise booked, leaving July 29. I feel completely unconcerned (I’m already vaccinated, and my wife will have long since been likewise), and I’m confident the ship and crew will be too. My only concern is that European ports won’t be up to speed yet and won’t welcome visitors. Fingers crossed.

27

My fiancee and I just booked our honeymoon for a week in October in Napa Valley, CA, including air round-trip between O’Hare and San Francisco. We had an airline credit from our cancelled first attempt at a honeymoon in Oct. 2020 :astonished: and we don’t feel like taking a chance on foreign travel yet.

By keeping our wedding in October (3rd iteration: Oct. 2020 originally, then June 2020, now Oct. 2021), we’re also being hopeful that enough other people will feel comfortable enough by then to attend, including out-of-town guests making travel plans a few months earlier.

28

That makes we wonder: When will international recreational air travel be possible?

I was supposed to go to Singapore last April, a year ago. I’m eager to go there sometime, but who knows when it will be allowed.

29

Yup, me too. I’ve friends overseas in east Asia, and it all depends on the destination country. I’m hoping to see my friends in Tokyo this year, but I’m not counting on it.

30

Haven’t seen my wife’s family in Japan since 2019. Japan is being pretty protective, but I think they’re also missing the business activity that international tourists bring. I’m still hopeful that they will open the country to international tourists by the end of the summer.

31

That’s pretty much my experience as well. Some time back we started going 1st class - just to avoid having the very start/end of every trip being so unpleasant. I’d still prefer to drive 20 hrs fron Chicago to visit our kid in Denver, than fly.

My wife has a trip to Iceland planned end of June w/ her friend. I have no air travel planned. Eventually to visit my kid in SoCal - tho she is planning on moving this fall.

32

Depends hugely on where you’re talking about.

I & my co-workers haul thousands of recreational air travelers to/from the USA every day. Much of Central America & the Caribbean is wide open. As is the USA from those places. Brazil is effectively closed to/from USA; Europe is trickier & I don’t keep up with the ever-shifting details. But it’s not zero.

33

To be specific: I had tickets to go to Canada and Singapore before everything shut down. They were canceled. I also had vague plans to visit Australia and/or Scandinavia sometime in the next year. Those are the places I’m interested in.

34

I think I’ll fly during my next Christmas break. By then, everyone who wants to get vaccinated will have been able to do so. We should be in pretty good shape by then.

35

After all these things happen:

  1. I’m fully vaccinated
  2. Mask mandates are removed
  3. I get my passport renewed
  4. This fall.
36

I will go and see my parents as soon as we’ve all finished our vaccination schedule and when they have opened the borders to a point where I don’t have to quarantine on either side. Mask wearing on the plane doesn’t bother me in the slightest.

37

We’ve done this a number of times. As it is not our house, there are no projects which need attention and I don’t have to worry about the grass, garden, houseplants, etc. So, for me, this is useful. But I still would prefer to be able to have one meal a day at a restaurant.

Since we’re in Switzerland, and would most likely fly to the U.S., we want to be vaccinated, and would like to avoid having to quarantine. Hope that both criteria are fulled by August/September this year. My parents are already vaccinated, but my husband’s mother and siblings are not. Hopefully that changes.

As soon as we are vaccinated and are two weeks post-vaccination, we plan to travel with a friend down to Milan, but that will be on a train. And Italy needs to be open to visitors, of course. Hope they figure out the vaccination card soon.

38

Anyone wanting to fly to Europe will have to wait a while.

Most countries and in lockdown also have internal travel restrictions. Some have curfews and you are not allowed outdoors after hours unless except for a limited number of essential reasons. France is particularly bad at the moment. So once you get there, there are not many fun things to do, the usually bubbling city centres are deserted except for delivery drivers and cops looking for people to fine.

Just getting into some countries can be difficult, there are direct flight bans from some countries. The UK has a ‘red list’ which includes most of Central and South America. UK Nationals returning home or those with residence rights are obliged to pay for quarantine in government specified hotels and two further tests.

At the moment many countries in Europe are going through a third wave and will be locked down for some weeks yet. The UK is in a better situation than most others because of its vaccination program with about 57% vaccinated, but many other European countries the rollouts are much lower, in the teens so they are relying on strict lockdowns to control the pandemic. That situation is unlikely to improve until the summer.

There is talk of some bi-lateral agreements regarding travel soon when it is deemed to be safe. It depends on the progress of the vaccine rollouts and the number of cases, I guess.

It is not so much being able to resume recreational travel as a matter of choice. In the UK, they won’t let you travel outward bound internationally unless you have a very good reason for doing so and there are big fines for transgressors. So internal tourism will come first. A case of ‘staycation’ rather than ‘vacation’ and since the cities are locked down, everyone is looking for seaside rental or some pretty place in the countryside. There are suggestions that Greece or Cyprus may open up and these are popular destinations for a holiday in the sun for the British, so I expect a mad scramble for bookings if that happens. Who knows maybe the USA will open up soon, if the vaccine rollout continues at a fast pace and there are no more nasty Covid-19 surprises.

39

The CDC just announced that travel (presumably domestic travel) is OK for people who have been fully vaccinated.

40

The CDC announcement came with simple caveats and advice, nothing onerous, so check the CDC site for specifics.