what would you do? Fly vs Drive

[audreyh1]

Over the course of the last few weeks DW and I have been on three Delta flights. The first went well with everybody keeping their distance and wearing masks. The second was a little below par with several people not wearing masks and virtually being ignored by the flight attendants until the trip was nearly over. Last Sunday we took a flight from DTW to FLL. This was a mistake.

Shortly after take off the woman and man two rows in front of us removed their masks and the woman proceeded to parade up and down the aisle with her two year old. This was after the lead flight attendant had made an announcement to wear your masks or we will have to "gently remind you". I thought that was a little odd and weakly making light of the policy.

After being reminded at least twice the woman continued to walk the aisle without a mask. I'd had enough and did something I've never done in 40 years and thousands of flights. I pushed the call button. The flight attendant informed me that that there is really nothing they can do if the passenger refuses to comply. They may be banned from the airline for the remainder of the mask policy time period. Big deal.

Upon landing the attendant evidently forgot to remind the passengers to exit by rows and leave space. By the time he got around to making an announcement the aisle was packed with people climbing all over each other. It got a little testy. DW and I waited it out and eventually got off the plane.

In conclusion we feel it is pushing your luck to fly at this time. We made a mistake. I just hope the flight home Friday is better. And by the way the airline did respond to our complaint by giving us 8000 miles each for our trouble.

This matches what I would expect. People behave carefully at first, then get sloppy, then get willfully careless/belligerent. The airlines will suffer for this. If people think it’s unsafe due to other people’s bad behavior or lack of enforcement, they won’t fly. Like you.

 

[braumeister]

As of last month, Delta said it had over 350 passengers on their no-fly list due to refusal to wear masks, and they were adding about 100 more a month.

We've only flown twice this year (both times on Delta) and our experience was excellent with near total compliance with COVID procedures. So there is apparently a lot of variability in what you might expect when flying. I've read in a few places that American is the worst, so I certainly wouldn't be flying them.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

The flight attendant informed me that that there is really nothing they can do if the passenger refuses to comply.

That is a damn lie. IF the Captain decided to exercise his authority, she could have been charged with a felony that could result in significant fines and/or prison time for not following a crew member's order.

Airlines are already suffering and unless there is yet ANOTHER bailout, odds are a few of them won't be around too much longer. With the spike of COVID, airlines CANNOT AFFORD to be so slack about this.

 

[MichaelB]

I've read in a few places that American is the worst, so I certainly wouldn't be flying them.

My daughter flew on AA this past week and told me there was no effort on board to enforce mask compliance. AA also cancelled and combined flights, so all seats were taken. Same with boarding and deboarding,

She also said the airports were crowded, with lots of shoulder to shoulder contact in security and baggage claim.

 

[OldConch]

I'm on a Delta flight now over the Gulf on the way to FLL. A few people on the first flight in May took theirs off and the flight attendants did nothing. On the second and current flight Delta required a face covering mandatory acknowledgment prior to booking and these flights have been rock solid. Middle seats are empty and there are quite a few additional empty seats. Delta boards plane back to front in a very organized way and they certainly encourage social distancing. GEG, SLC, PHX have all been great - nothing close to crowded conditions. All three require masks to enter the buildings and periphery activities like car rental shuttle are all following these guidelines as well. So far I've felt very safe. Hope to have a similar experience at FLL. BTW care for ailing elderly parents is the reason for travel.

 

[iloveyoga]

I just got back from flying Delta Des Moines to Atlanta to Orlando and back. All in all a very good experience. On one flight exit there was a bit of crowding, but the others were good. The only people without masks were three waiting to fly back to Iowa, but I was not surprised by that. They masked up to board. Oh, no coughing to be heard anywhere that I visited.

 

[2017ish]

Reinvigorating this thread. N.B., if your child wants to video classes on trip, even on the interstates, we found cell data connections often lacking in the non-coastal west (I have t-mobile, sprint, and us cellular; DW has verizon).

I love driving long distances and we just finished a 5000 mile trip through northern Wisconsin and the Michigan u.p. but still think that unless your husband and child enjoy driving, flying is the way to go.

 

[Koolau]

Just thinking back to 1976: I had to travel 350 miles with 2 other associates. I suggested that we drive. No, no, no, no. We're going to fly. So instead of paying for one car, we paid for 3 sets of airline tickets. Okay, no problem, company paid for it.

We drove 60 miles to the (first) airport and had to park in short term parking (forget the cost - but not inexpensive.) We took first flight and had a short wait (about an hour - no luggage, so no problem). Took second flight. Rented car and drove 60 more miles. Total travel time was over 5 hours. Return was similar in reverse. I could have driven the whole thing in 6 hours with much lower cost. One could argue that the trip was less "stressful" by flying rather than driving, but we still drove 120 miles each way.

Fast forward to today. Recommended early arrival at airport is still 2 hours though my guess is most make it 1 1/2. I think the last estimate I saw for "short" flights was a 450 mile air trip can be driven as quickly on average. I don't have data to back this up.

Personally, I despise the "hassle" of air travel enough that I'll drive rather than fly whenever possible. This one is YMMV on steroids.

 

[omni550]

This is disheartening news.

Low-density flight to Ireland resulted in 59 covid infections (including 13 of the passengers).

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/hea...nto-ireland-linked-to-59-infections-1.4390728

omni

 

[ivinsfan]

This is disheartening news.

Low-density flight to Ireland resulted in 59 covid infections (including 13 of the passengers).

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/hea...nto-ireland-linked-to-59-infections-1.4390728

omni

Why didn't they give the date of this flight? It seems like a big omission.

 

[audreyh1]

They said it was summer, so it wasn’t in the early months. Yes - I tried to find it too.

 

[braumeister]

I guess the good news is that Ireland seems to have an excellent mechanism for tracing infection spread.

 

[audreyh1]

Yeah, impressive!

 

[Koolau]

This is disheartening news.

Low-density flight to Ireland resulted in 59 covid infections (including 13 of the passengers).

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/hea...nto-ireland-linked-to-59-infections-1.4390728

omni

I don't mean to make light of this situation nor impose my own prejudices. Still, at least from what is in the article, there seems to be 'association' established but no proven 'causation'. It certainly seems likely that transmission happened on a plane. But whether it actually did or didn't and to what extent may be very difficult to establish.

We have seen many similar stories of associations but establishing causation is typically much more difficult to establish. I come down on the side of avoiding people at this time. This story seems to 'validate' my thinking - but in reality, I'm not certain it does validate anything. Once more, we simply have to make our own decisions with very flawed information. I think that's one of the more frustrating issues surrounding Covid. We just DO NOT know enough yet. There will be an element of chance involved for the foreseeable future. Limiting risk is about all we can do as YMMV.

 

[foxfirev5]

Over the course of the last few weeks DW and I have been on three Delta flights. The first went well with everybody keeping their distance and wearing masks. The second was a little below par with several people not wearing masks and virtually being ignored by the flight attendants until the trip was nearly over. Last Sunday we took a flight from DTW to FLL. This was a mistake.

Shortly after take off the woman and man two rows in front of us removed their masks and the woman proceeded to parade up and down the aisle with her two year old. This was after the lead flight attendant had made an announcement to wear your masks or we will have to "gently remind you". I thought that was a little odd and weakly making light of the policy.

After being reminded at least twice the woman continued to walk the aisle without a mask. I'd had enough and did something I've never done in 40 years and thousands of flights. I pushed the call button. The flight attendant informed me that that there is really nothing they can do if the passenger refuses to comply. They may be banned from the airline for the remainder of the mask policy time period. Big deal.

Upon landing the attendant evidently forgot to remind the passengers to exit by rows and leave space. By the time he got around to making an announcement the aisle was packed with people climbing all over each other. It got a little testy. DW and I waited it out and eventually got off the plane.

In conclusion we feel it is pushing your luck to fly at this time. We made a mistake. I just hope the flight home Friday is better. And by the way the airline did respond to our complaint by giving us 8000 miles each for our trouble.

UPDATE: DW continued the email correspondence with the Delta Rep. She politely but persistently explained that we are not comfortable or confident that the airline can safely meet our requirements for our only remaining reservation. The trip was a nonrefundable ticket for early February. The airline Rep responded with a cancellation and full refund of our ticket. We are both grateful to Delta, but it will probably be quite some time before we fly again.