Dr. Anthony Fauci warned me not to do it. The CDC did, too.
Still, seven months after my mom died — seven months of not seeing my heartbroken father, now living alone in the house they shared for six decades — I got on a commercial airplane and passed through one of the nation’s busiest airports, returning on one of the year’s busiest travel days.
I’m not proud that I shared Orlando International with at least 38,500 people — and those were just the ones departing — but I felt I had to. I agonized for months before booking my trip and chose an airline that is still keeping middle seats open — at least for now. I also avoided Thanksgiving week itself, choosing to travel the week before, although in retrospect I’m not sure it mattered much.
Here’s what I learned — and what you can expect if you, too, venture through the great confluence of human behaviors and radically varying degrees of respect for social distancing and mask-wearing that are our nation’s airports:
1. “There’s no one there,” a friend told me when I asked what the airport would be like, still debating the wisdom of my decision. Wrong.
Perhaps that was true in May, when my friend last flew, but it is definitely not true now. Passenger levels at Orlando International Airport are still about half of what’s normal for this time of year, but given the typical madness of major airports at holiday time, that’s not much assurance. Things were also fairly bustling in Houston, San Diego and especially Denver, the three other airports I experienced coming and going.
2. Check-in was a breeze. I flew Southwest — because of the aforementioned empty middle-seat rule, which expires Dec. 1 — so perhaps the airline has mastered pandemic-era protocol where other airlines haven’t. But I didn’t see crowded lines at any other carriers, either. I used the touch screen check-in, followed by the hand sanitizer stationed conveniently nearby. The agents were behind Plexiglas partitions.
3. The Transportation Security Administration checkpoint is where things began to deteriorate. While the screening lines were markedly shorter than usual, few people seem to grasp how far 6 feet is, although in San Diego — my destination — stickers on the floor remind people to stay “one surfboard apart,” along with “6 feet” printed on the picture of the surfboard. The visual seemed to help. I’m not sure what the equivalent would be for Orlando. … One tall Mickey Mouse? One adolescent alligator?
4. During the pandemic, TSA is making an exception to the usual 3-1-1 rules for liquids, allowing each passenger to carry aboard an additional 12-ounce bottle of hand sanitizer. Unfortunately, I didn’t know this and instead brought a 100-sheet package of sanitizing wipes, which, for reasons that escape me, set off security alarms each time. In San Diego, I had agents go through every single item in my purse and carry-on bag, ask me questions and do a very intimate pat-down. On the plus side, they were very nice, used freshly changed gloves, wore face shields and, in nine months of social distancing, it was the closest thing I’ve had to actual human contact.
5. All bathrooms I used had touchless plumbing features and paper towel dispensers. When one woman activated a hand dryer, I quickly ducked out. Those things are notorious germ-spreaders in the best of times. Abort! Abort!
6. While there were plenty of places open to eat, some airport stores are still closed. But Denver also had vendors in the corridors near the gates and crowds of people drinking — maskless, obviously — outside the airport bars, which squeezed people who were trying to walk past.
7. My airline required all passengers older than 2 to wear a mask and announced it wasn’t allowing bandannas, so passengers with those had to get a free disposable mask from a flight attendant before takeoff. I used a two-layer cloth mask with an additional two-layer removable filter and kept my sunglasses on to cover my eyes. But I saw everything from thin neck gators to N95s with face shields.
8. We boarded 10 passengers at a time, which went smoothly. There was no typical meal and drink service — only water and a snack — and I passed on both so I could keep my mask on. Lots of people seemed to do likewise, but others had their masks on and off the entire trip. I heard one sneeze in my vicinity and pulled my fleece jacket over my face for extra protection.
I also tried, of course, not to touch my face and to use wipes after I touched any common surfaces. And I’m fortunate to have a strong immune system.
So I’m not recommending air travel, nor am I recommending against it. I’ll leave that to the experts. And I’m not sure I would have gone if I’d had to sit directly next to someone.
But this much I can say with certainty: If you found flying a hassle before, you’ll really hate it now.
ksantich@orlandosentinel.com
