I won a relatively big award at work today. I learn more details next week, but apparently it involves flying 1700 miles away for an awards ceremony in a few months. I sure hope Covid has calmed down by then, as at the moment that’s the only thing that’s coming to mind when I think about making this trip. Has anyone else flown anywhere recently? Recommendations for airlines to avoid?
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Congrats on the award!!
We have flown recently. We’ve had good luck on United.
I fly all the time. Planes ‘allegedly’ are the safest place to be because of filtration. But you are waiting for the planes to power up. And you sit in the airport waiting.
My biggest concern is the airport. Few mask in Nashville.
On the plane masking has gotten better. The flight attendants appear to be enforcing more now than initially.
I only fly southwest.
I wear my kn95 everywhere. I was recently in western Florida. No one masks. Like they don’t know covid exists.
I’ve been lucky. Still covid free.
My wife buys masks at projectn95 shop. They are flexible, as comfortable as a surgical mask.
I wouldn’t be concerned with flying. But while waiting for the flight I like to find an empty gate to wait at. So I’m not amongst tons of people.
And I don’t take off my mask. Not to sneeze. Drink. Nothing. Stays on the entire time.
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yeah, masking is definitely a regional type thing from what i’ve seen. we only wear kn95’s or n95’s too. this would be a trip to the south so I’m sure masking will be rare, and it’s a pretty big event too… so lots of people. I’ll learn more next week… we shall see what they say. i’m hoping they make everyone wear masks at it since we have to wear masks in our buildings.
thank you!
In Miami it’s strong. The rest of Florida. Zilch. Where I live suburban Nashville zilch.
In cities you might see more.
If you’re not comfortable opt out if possible. But there are ways to mitigate your exposure.
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yeah, we shall see what I learn!
Congratulations! You might want to skim through the travel thread. People have been discussing their experiences flying all over the country and world, along with other forms of travel. You can get a good overview of what people have been seeing.
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What city will it be in? The South is a big region. In many cities in North Carolina, where I live, we have very high levels of mask wearing. I took my D22 down to Atlanta in November for a college tour and there was good compliance there too and a city-wide mandate. We went through Greenville South Carolina and I saw hardly anyone with a mask, there. Really depends on where exactly you are going.
Texas. I’m not sure of the details beyond that yet. 
Ah, Texas is really its own thing. Many Southerners don’t consider it part of the South and most Texans just consider Texas to be the Republic of Texas. Could not tell you a thing about mask compliance there, but good luck!
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It’s funny - we’ve traveled all throughout covid, but always within driving distance (we’ve stuck to within about 6 hours by car in each direction). I’ve probably taken 20 trips in the last 2 years… at a minimum. Maybe even 30 or 40. We’ve actually been home for about a month now and I’m going stir crazy and ready to travel again. I’m about to plan a trip or two in February. We figured Covid would go crazy after the holidays and decided to park ourselves at home for a few weeks… and I’m glad we did because we were right… We took 3 separate trips during December 2021 alone (one 2 hours west, one 5 hours north, one 3 hours south). this is just my first time where it’s like oh, gotta get on a plane and be near a bunch of others at the destination - lol.
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It’s not flying I’d be worried about as long as I had an N95 mask. It’s the event. I imagine a lot of people will be unmasked at an event in TX.
In a few months Covid might be in the rear view mirror though. At least that’s what I’m hoping for.
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What am I being congratulated on? Which travel thread? I thought my post was in the travel thread… hard to read tone here.
I was congratulating the OP on this thread and thought I was just including a link to the main travel thread; didn’t realize it would alert to an individual post there. Sorry for the confusion!
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Gotcha! Thanks!
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Congrats to you Suzy - just for being a super duper Suzy
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Well, Suzy made me learn a new thing: if my post is linked in another thread, I would get notified.
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The flight isn’t what I’d be worried about. You’re going to a place where few if any will be wearing masks in public and the majority is not vaccinated. I’d be worried about the hotel, dining, and attending the ceremony since you’ll be indoors with them. By summer hopefully the spread of the virus will be lower.
If you do go I suggest using only N95 masks. There’s a reason they only come with the headband instead of the earband, it’s because that makes a tighter seal.
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Based on your concerns, if it were me (your concerns are identical to mine) I would ask myself a few questions…how mandatory is it that I receive the award in person? Is it worth the risk of possibly getting any variation of Covid, and potentially dragging it around back to the airport, back to my home, my family, my community?
Personally I would pass, based exclusively on the indoor portion of the event with “lots of people” masking alone would not be enough for me personally.