What Are Airports and Commerical Flights Like During A Pandemic?
My family and I took a trip this past week to Georgia and made the decision months ago (pre Coronavirus) to fly down for this trip.
Depending on which airline you fly with you may be required to wear a face mask at all times during the flight. We flew with Delta and had to wear a face mask while we were on one of their aircrafts at all times.
If you experienced light-headedness while flying before during take-off and landing you really feel the difference in the air quality while wearing a mask for hours at a time.
If someone on the plane removed their mask at any time during the flight a flight attendant would remind them to place it back over their face. So shoving food in your face quickly became the new norm.
When you board a plane now a flight attendant hands you an antibacterial wipe while wearing a mask and gloves. They hope you will use the wipe to wipe down your individual seat, the tray in front of you, your armrests, and basically everything else you will touch during the flight.
Flight attendants also can't touch travelers' luggage due to the virus so if you have a bigger bag or can't lift anything above your head by yourself you should consider checking your bags.
It also takes about three hours for the airline's staff to clean each aircraft after every single flight. The cleaning I saw take place was a person in a hazmat suit walk onto the plane with a sanitizer spray on their back but other than that I can't speak to what other cleaning precautions were done.
Delta claimed that they use state of the art air filtration systems but while you're on a less than half-filled plane I wonder how effective the air filtration systems really are.
Airports also ask that all travelers still remain six feet apart from others and that face masks be worn by everyone at all times.
TSA members also wear masks and gloves and if they can help it will not touch passengers for searches if they can avoid it.
So if you are planning a trip this summer be prepared to wear a face mask often when flying.
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