Looking Forward to Airline Flights??

I'm not assuming that I won't be able to get a flight that's comfortably in my budget. Airlines can raise fares only so much when the economy has tanked like it has (and they'll have to aggressively entice people to come back), and there will always be a range of fares set dynamically (unless airlines become regulated again, which I doubt will happen). Temperature checks probably take a few seconds each (you can see videos of them being done in Asia), so no big deal there. Also no big deal re: lack of inflight food or alcohol. I look forward to flights with less people on them, although prior to March, all the flights I've been on haven't been full at all so I had either the whole row to myself or at least 2 seats. The only thing I can think of that is a major deterrent is having to wear a mask the whole time; that I'm definitely not looking forward to.

I have not "looked forward" to an airline flight for the past 20 years. They have become a pain.

I agree Bob. The airlines have made flying a mostly miserable experience.

I'm in the minority... I still love flying. It's even worth it in a mask; I'm used to wearing one all day at my job now anyway. My last flight was February 23. I'm chomping at the bit to get back on a plane, grab my window seat, and wonder at how cool it is to be next to a cloud!

Princess and Agnes do bring up the interesting issue of cost. Airlines will be awash in vouchers/e-credits and likely will have some degree of social distancing on planes (which means lower load factors), which would seem to drive up prices. Demand will be low, though, at least initially, so fares may be set to attract customers.

An interesting domestic case: A friend of mine booked a coach trip to Idaho from our local airport for Sept for $378; pre-COVID-19 price was in the $800 range.

It will also be interesting to see if the predicted long-term decrease in business travel actually holds. I have read that some businesses have discovered that Zoom and such work just fine and saves money, so we might not have as many road warriors even once travel is again possible. Time will tell.

But, to answer the OP...I'm with Dave, flying for me is part of the fun of travel, and I'll be thrilled once again to be up in the air.

Flying has always been a necessary evil for me - however I have zero plans to get in a plane till at least next year -

I’ve always considered planes Petri dishes of germs , albeit the kind that give you colds and diarrhea- not the kind that may kill you .

I am very much looking forward to an airline flight, because it'll mean that I'm able to see my family and friends again if flying domestically, or that I'll be jetting off to Europe for a long-awaited vacation!

Looking forward to being able to fly without overriding fear of infection (outside of the regular stuff) -- but probably will not be one of the first. Not a problem to pack a meal and snacks, or to go without free alcohol. We have already gotten used to long security lines, temperature check would be only seconds more.
Sad that missed my chance to fly Norwegian, though.

Where there is demand, there will always be someone finding a way to satisfy it. So, yes seats will be a very reduced number for a while. But as demand returns, whether in 6 months or 6 years, there will be airlines filling that need. And with the glut of used planes on the market if or when the existing budget airlines fail to resume operations, there will be plenty of business opportunities to fill the desired travel appetite for low cost flights with a relatively low (for airlines anyway) startup cost.

I don't see prices skyrocketing. Sure those $300 round trips to Europe you might see out there right now will disappear, but it is doubtful they will be replaced with only $3000+ economy tickets. The airlines will want to fill their planes as full as possible and many people will not have that kind of money to spend for a while to come because most did not have that kind of money in the past either. There will always be cargo to fill the spots previously occupied by checked baggage which, if managed correctly, will provide a small cushion of profit as things wind up again.

It will take some effort to convince passengers to pay for business or first class tickets if the only thing you will get is the better seat. No food or drinks during most flights is just not going to fly for premium passengers. Airlines may take the approach of feeding their higher class long haul passengers a good meal either at the beginning or end of the flight in a nice restaurant (Virgin Atlantic used to do that for flights from New York to London, not sure if they still were until the virus happened). They can do what Southwest did in the 70's where each passenger received a full fifth of their choice of alcohol to consume elsewhere. This could be expanded to include wine, champagne, or other similarly priced items that would have significance for the destination. I'm sure the creative minds out there who do this for a living will find something that works.

Temperature checks could easily be done in a matter of seconds as part of going through the existing scanners at security. They could be done while waiting for the scanner to display what it found on you resulting in zero slowdown.

Wait a minute. Am I showing signs of positivity? Wow, maybe I need to go check my temperature right now. :-/

Looking Forward to Airline Flights??

Seems better than a cruise ship for long distance travel

I hate the whole airport experience but I do love the window seat and the excitement that my trip is starting. (Or, alternately, that I'm heading back home to see my dog). I don't do alcohol, so not an issue. Temp check may not be good because I'm usually hyper/anxious before a flight and am always red faced and sweaty - lol.

In the grand scheme of 16-20 days on vacay, 12-14 hours spent at airports/on an airplane is really nothing.

We don’t fly often, usually only to and from Europe. Don’t like it, but it is a necessity. Prices? Maybe we should pay what it is worth instead of $400 round trip to Paris as a loss leader. Maybe we should pay the equivalent of what it cost in the 1970s when it wasn’t too bad to fly.

Security I can handle, even if it includes some sort of health screening (although that would seem to be of limited value given what we know about a symptomatic carriers). What I cannot imagine is wearing a face mask for 10 to 12 hours and not eating or rehydrating for even 4 hours. Dehydration could be disastrous on a long haul flight and lead to other in-air health issues especially for people with heart problems.

No alcohol.....fine. It seems to cause more problems than it helps......just let us bring our own picnic on our flight with a mask and everyone is happy.

A lot of these restrictions may very well change before you fly.

But no, they can't do what SW used to do and give you booze to use whenever... there's a reason SW had to stop that practice, in a lot of places it turned out to be illegal :)

I expect meal service etc will return it's just a matter of how they do it.

Prices are going up, your bottom feeders are in big trouble and that's been artificially keeping the low prices down. I think the new bottom fare is going to be several hundred higher than what people have been paying and we will see the same outcry we did the last time there was a correction in airfares. (No, there's no constitutional right to cheap airfare :) )

Prices are going up, your bottom feeders are in big trouble and that's
been artificially keeping the low prices down.

Please provide evidence (airlines have been making decent to very good profits even with low-priced flights in the mix because there are many off-setting add-ons they can derive revenue from). There is a very wide variance in the pricing of airline tickets, and adequate room for most budgets and preferences - it's not fully a zero-sum game. We don't know what future pricing will look like because no one, even the airlines, can accurately predict future demand right now. And what's a bottom feeder? Sounds like you're talking about catfish, not humans.

I used to be a fearful flyer and it took me years to get over that fear. I'm surprised how much I miss flying now. This is the same person whose fear was so bad I flew to a location but couldn't get home and had to get a rental car.

I've always found them to be germy and was the person who would wipe everything down with a sanitizing wipe. I also find the food to not be very good and would often pack my own. Not to mention airport food is expensive. The exception being those biscotti cookies that AA would hand out or the fruit, cheese and nut served in first - those I like.

I'm ok with the temp check. I hate mask wearing, so uncomfortable and itchy. I dread wearing it for flights but I will. I really miss flying. Can't wait to do it again. Prices will be interesting.

I think we need to put some real thought into how to implement a temperature check policy and program. If you assume everyone with a temp of >98.6℉ is a threat, there are some consequences. A failure to pass that screening could be because you just ran through the airport from your connecting flight, or some other non threatening reason. Even then, we say no one with a cold can fly, based on a diagnosis from a non-medically qualified screener? Then, who has the liability for taking care of that person? Cant have them wandering the airport, and cant put them on a flight home. If you just pass an initial screening at your initial departure airport, is that enough? And how does one buy tickets in advance if there is a last minute chance the person wont fly because of your policy? I just don't think its as straightforward as it seems, if you base a permanent policy based on what we know now.

they can't do what SW used to do and give you booze to use whenever... there's a reason SW had to stop that practice, in a lot of places it turned out to be illegal :)

The reason Southwest started doing the booze giveaway is because it was illegal at that point in time in Texas to sell liquor by the drink or to allow people to drink liquor sold to them at the point of sale so they could not allow people to drink on a plane that was flying over Texas. They stopped the giveaways when the law in Texas was changed. It was a stunt by Southwest to force the law to change.

I do miss flying, not in the “I like to be cramped in a middle seat”, but more in the “my vacations start now” way.

I fly in economy by the way.

Flying is part of travel overseas, and I try to do the best of the situation: I bring snacks, my own entertainment, and enjoy the fact that I don’t have to do anything for the next hours! No cleaning nor laundry to do, not answering the phone, you know what I mean. I do miss my cats but I know they’re in good hands.

I don’t know how much flying will change, or how much will it cost, but I miss it.

they can't do what SW used to do and give you booze to use whenever

Brings back memories of the early 80's flying non-rev ... more often than not would get a seat in the last few rows (or would work my way to the back) and after meal/beverage service would flirt with the flight attendants, being sure they knew I worked for the airline ... always seemed to get a 'goody bag' before deplaning ... sometimes just a few small bottles, sometimes whole bottles of wine, sometimes all that and then some ... good times that are long gone.

We had to fly yesterday, Las Vegas to Seattle. It was my first flight since March 15th. Alaska changed our reservations twice and we ended up on a 7:15 a.m. flight. At check in, the agent told me there were 80 people in coach and 7 in first class. I didn’t count, but that seemed about right. TSA pre-check was closed in terminal 3, but the ID check guy told us to keep our tickets with us and we wouldn’t have to take off our shoes or worry about liquids. We did have to take out electronics larger than a cell-phone.

The gates at terminal 3 were closed so we took the tram to D gate. The majority of people were wearing masks, both staff and customers. People were very good about social distancing in the gate area. On the flight it seemed like almost everyone had a row to themselves, unless they were a couple. The middle seats were blocked online. They boarded just a few rows at a time. At the disembark, they announced social distancing, but that didn’t really work. However, most everyone was masked.

In Seattle the gate areas were sparsely populated as was baggage claim. The only place where people were in a confined space was the tram from the South terminal. People were very good about social distancing until it was time to load the tram. The whole trip the atmosphere was very subdued.

I look forward to it only if it means being rehired by my company that furloughed me.

I agree with Bob:

I have not "looked forward" to an airline flight for the past 20
years.

I don't know what flying will be like in this new world that we live in, but I am assuming that the airlines that survive will find ways to make it even more miserable.

The airlines are already planning for the future. First, they are mothballing their older, gas guzzling airplanes. Next, they'll decide which routes were the most profitable and do what they can to drop the unpopular ones. They have already said they will probably not be as big as they once were.

With less competition, prices will increase,

As for masks and separation and empty seats, I wouldn't be surprised to see all of that gone within a year.

I'm not looking forward to being a sardine in economy with someone coughing next to me. That alone is enough to ruin a vacation. I'd agree there may be empty seats until there's a vaccine, but you will pay for the empty seat next to you.

You have a little more space in premium, especially if you can share two aisle seats with your spouse or "partner" whatever it's called now.

I was in the Air Force and Army for 21 years, so the "thrill" of flying went away long ago. We now splurge on premium, which is so much more comfortable, and feel more rested upon arrival from overnight flights. I'm not young any more. I've done enough roughing it over the years.

No booze would be good. You will feel MUCH better upon arrival at 0700 LHR.

Stan temp checks aren’t enough as they estimate 40-60 percent of us can be carry I covid and be asymptomatic

I don't enjoy the flight to and from Europe and I'm not willing to make the flight 50 to 65 percent of my entire trip budget (for a 17-20 day trip) to make it marginally less miserable. Flying isn't great, it's just the best way to get there.

I don't mind having my temperature taken before boarding, although I can see being refused boarding being a disaster for those who have booked their entire vacation. I prefer to travel with relatively few reservations; I'll probably make even fewer reservations in the future.

I also don't really mind wearing a mask. Long term, I don't think it's a bad idea for attendants to keep a supply of masks and immediately ask anyone who coughs or sneezes to wear one for the remainder of the flight. That's the only time a mask is doing anyone any good. Everyone wearing a mask is a waste of masks. Is it okay if I wear over my eyes?

I'm sure the airlines will want/need to squeeze every penny out of every ticket, but they've been using computer models to help them do that for decades. Bottom line, they need to fill planes. If consumers are reluctant to travel, prices will drop. Airlines know a cheap ticket is more profitable than an empty seat.

As a traveler who packs really light (a shoulder bag that meets even Ryan Air carry on requirements) and doesn't care about most flight services (meals, drinks, movies) I prefer the cafeteria style pricing. When the airline reminds me my ticket doesn't include a meal, I wonder if that's a threat or a promise? The only thing I'd probably pay extra for is early seat selection - and then I'd have to see the offer before making a value judgment.

I got really tired of airplanes last year, especially from Kennedy. My New Years Resolution was to travel less this year. I won't make that resolution again! By the time I get to fly again, I will have forgotten how bad it was and will be so happy to go somewhere more exciting than the grocery store! And I think everyone should wear masks, regardless of whether or not they have symptoms.

Wearing a mask if you're not coughing or sneezing is not a waste of time. COVID-19 and other viruses can be asymptomatic for days.

By the time you're coughing the horse is out of the barn.