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I’m traveling and I’ve got some time on my hands, so I want to answer a friend’s recent question about flight safety and share my experiences with flights over the past year (frankly, praise for multiple airlines and airports in the face of Covid). This is about four different airlines: Spirit, United, Avianca, and Delta.
(First, about our family’s Covid behaviors: My husband and I are fully-vaccinated with boosters. My teen is fully vaxxed; she hadn’t been eligible for the booster until a few days ago and we already have an appointment for her to get one this coming week. My husband and I usually mask in public regardless of mandates; my daughter always does. We travel, attend theatre with vaxx requirements, and eat out. We avoid anti-mask/anti-vaxx businesses.)
Back to the airlines…
May 2021: Spirit Airlines
BWI > Sacramento; Oakland > BWI
We flew Spirit on a credit from 2020—a trip my daughter and I had canceled due to the pandemic. Spirit was one of the two most safety-conscious airlines we’ve flown since covid hit.
They were so conscious about masks remaining over your nose and mouth that they woke up the woman next to me when the woman’s mask fell below her nose while she was sleeping! (I was like Omg I hope this woman doesn’t think I ratted on her!)
Then, when a passenger had a medical emergency (an actual “Is there a doctor on board?” emergency), they were removing his mask but they sanitized a face shield and placed it on him so he could breathe more freely but still prevent the spread of covid.
(The flights had connections in Vegas and LAX with nothing noteworthy—all airport covid protocols were strong.)
July 2021: United Airlines
Dulles > San Diego; Vegas > Dulles
Again, strong on sanitizing and masking requirements on the planes and at airports. Nothing particularly noteworthy, good experience.
December 2021: Avianca
Dulles > Medellín via Bogotá and the reverse
This airline was ON TOP of it. From masking, to not allowing outside food and drinks, to boarding and deplaning in very small sections by side (e.g. Row 7-15 right, etc., all the way down the right, then back through the rows on the left).
During one flight, mid-flight, a bathroom soap dispenser stopped working. Flight attendants put a bottle of soap in there to use for the duration of the flight.
At the time we flew*, Colombia required vaccination (No vaxx, no fly!); if your shot was within 14 days or only one shot had been administered thus far, you also needed to show a negative test with your vaxx card. The airline checked vaxx cards multiple times.
To fly back to the States at the time we flew*, you needed a negative test no matter your vaxx status (no vaxx requirement at all). Avianca checked our tests multiple times, including at check-in and boarding.
*Always, always check the vaccination and testing requirements of the country you’re entering. These things change; don’t rely on what your friend or some blogger tells you—check embassy websites, airline websites, etc.
Airports were all observing mask mandates, etc.
January 2022: Delta
Reagan > SLC (we are on this trip now)
Again, they enforced masking. I could see signs that they’d wiped down screens and such. Airports were also enforcing masking.
(I should note that my husband flew into JFK last week and I went to pick him up and the covid precaution messaging was strong!)
So…how do I personally feel about flying these days? Safer than at the supermarket, McDonald’s, schools, theaters, etc.
