What It Feels Like to Fly During the Coronavirus Outbreak
I departed San Francisco for the Maldives last Wednesday with a dock in Switzerland, the journey from which I returned home this morning with a dock last night via Singapore. It was a trip on which I was not sure what would happen. A few days before my flight, my original flight was canceled because the flight was to South Korea, which is currently dealing with a fairly significant number of confirmed cases of COVID-19.
Last week, confirmed cases of coronavirus seemed to be limited to just a few areas, so travel if it didn’t pass through one of those areas still seemed like a safe idea. In the end, I was able to board another flight that went through Switzerland on my way there and through Singapore on the way back. This means that over the past week I have been at airports in America, Asia and Europe. The way each airport fights the coronavirus is slightly different, but if you have a trip you need to take, here’s how the experience went for me.
Departure to America
One of the most noticeable things for me was how easy it was for me to check in for the flight. San Francisco Airport (SFO) is usually less crowded at the international terminal, but there is usually at least a queue that you need to wait. I was able to check my bag and get through security in about 10 minutes. I gave extra time, thinking there would be some extra check, but as far as I could visually see everything was going fine.
Nobody asked me if I was experiencing any symptoms or if I traveled to China at check-in; I think they should have. When I tried to board my flight to SFO, as well as the next flight after my connection, the alarm went off and the agent at the entrance asked if I had been in China in the last 14 days. This caused me an approximately 45 second delay in boarding, and when I said no, I was immediately allowed to fly.
No one was stopped during boarding, so I guess in this case the agent who checked me in should have asked and forgot about it.
My flight, like the airport, was pretty empty. During my time at the airport and on the flight, I saw exactly one masked person, which, frankly, is not enough for your average day without coronavirus at SFO. At the time, March 4th, no one seemed to be overly concerned about COVID-19.
Stopover in Switzerland
It was at Zurich airport that I noticed something really coronavirus-related for the first time, and even then it was pretty mild. I did not see a single mask at the airport; However, the airport has set up several hand sanitizer stations throughout the terminal for people to use, and has posted information about COVID-19 next to them. I didn’t actually see anyone use these stations, but I was grateful they were there.
The plane was boarding as usual, and again, there were no masked people on board my flight. Aside from turning the alarm back on and being asked if I was in China, everything went as I expected when traveling any other time.
Arrival in Maldives
Customs in the Maldives have been a little careful. Instead of going straight to the customs line, I had to go through a separate health check line. As far as I can tell, the health check was simply three different people looking you in the eye and going through a temperature scanner. If you wore glasses, you had to take them off for this to happen. I’m not really sure what they were looking for, but they looked at everyone quite closely.
When I filled out my customs form on the plane, I was also given a “Health Declaration Card” in which I had to provide my flight number and seat, and information about whether I was experiencing any symptoms such as pain in throat or cough, and whether I have lived in China for the past 14 days or not.
On the back of the form was information on what to do and who to contact if I developed any symptoms while I was there. While it was rudimentary, I thought it was helpful, and theoretically helped you succeed if you did get sick there, even though they took the piece of paper with that number as soon as you cleared customs.
Leaving the Maldives
The Maldives were far less concerned about my departure than my arrival. As with my departure from San Francisco, I was able to check my bag fairly quickly and go through security. There were MUCH more masked people at that time.
I waited in the lounge before the flight, thinking that this would save me from contact with too many people. I think many had the same idea and was relatively packaged. A solid 90% of the hundred or so people in the room were also wearing masks. It’s the same with my flight. While it was definitely not packed, it seemed like most of the flight aboard was wearing masks.
Worth noting: the day I left was on the same day that some reports were quarantined in the Maldives, so while there was no ultra high alert at the airport, it was understandable that there were a lot of passengers.
Stop in Singapore
In Singapore, temperature scanners were scattered throughout the airport. On my journey from the gate where I landed to the other terminal where my new one was, I went through a few. The display for scanners shows a split screen where the video is on the right and a heatmap of people walking through it is on the left.
If you need to go through one of them, it is no different from walking down the hallway. I didn’t have to talk to anyone or even slow down.
When it was time to board my flight, I was also asked if I had traveled to China, Iran or Italy in the last 2 weeks before I was allowed to board.
I expected Singapore airport to have more masks and stricter security checkpoints, but apart from extremely non-invasive temperature scanners, it was nothing out of the ordinary.
Back to America
My flight to San Francisco from Singapore was the first leg of my flight with all the staff wearing masks.
As with the time of my departure, customs at SFO were empty than usual. Oddly enough, most of the times when I return it is due to the large number of visitors, usually from Asia, who fly in to board the cruise ships. I personally explain the dramatic decline in the number of people unable to travel due to canceled flights and a lack of interest in getting trapped on a cruise ship.
I had a Global Entry, so my communication with customs officials at SFO involved handing over a printed piece of paper from a kiosk. As soon as I picked up the bag, I was directed a little differently than usual, through a side door where there were some sort of temperature scanners.
I haven’t seen anyone actually monitor these scanners like at other airports, but it could definitely be someone monitoring them remotely. The CDC also had this Health Warning on the screen at the baggage claim.
Two weeks ago, on a flight back from the Virgin Islands, my travel companion was stopped at customs on the island and asked about his trip due to the coronavirus. This time I expected a little more pump or at least a couple of speed bumps in the Global Entry process, but it was actually faster than usual.
Bottom line
Traveling was a bit of a jumble in terms of how each airport and country fights the virus, but it never touched what I thought was a problem, or even anything that slowed my travel down noticeably. The past week has also seen a fairly strong increase in anxiety at airports, as well as in cities around the world. If I were leaving today on the same trip, I might have made different decisions.
I tried to wipe the seat on every flight I flew; however, I am already doing this. I will say that while these napkins usually end up a little dirty, my seats on all my flights seemed very clean in terms of wiping.
I decided not to wear a mask at airports, but did it for my 16 hour flight to San Francisco from Singapore simply because I was going to sleep, probably with my mouth open, for a long period of time. I was happy that I had one, but the flight was so empty that I think that without it I would have been comfortable.
It is also impossible to know if I actually contracted anything during my travels. While I think everything went well, I could definitely be wrong. I work from home, so I plan on quarantining most of the time for the next 14 days in case I manage to catch a virus along the way. As for whether I need to do this, ask me in 14 days.