Saw very few masks when we flew to Wisconsin and back.
We flew from Detroit to Phoenix last week and saw 5-10% masked.
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Thank you all for the eye witness reports! I appreciate you sharing the information.
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I m flying to Cancun next Saturday and will mask on the plane. I have had three coworkers who contracted Covid during the last two months while traveling. One tested positive before flying home and postponed her return. The next developed symptoms, along with her family, but still flew and tested positive after they got home. The last one tested positive just yesterday after developing symptoms the day before (I believe she arrived home on Wed). She is insistent that she will come to work on Monday.
I’ve been on lots of flights this year, including internationally. My flight from Istanbul to Kenya required that everyone mask. Other than that, masks were rare, though I always wore mine and doubled up for the international flights. On all but the flight where it was mandatory, there was an announcement to respect fellow passengers’ choices to mask or not mask.
It’s personal choice at this point, unfortunately. I think it should be mandatory on all flights and all public transportation, but what you can do.
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I’m glad people aren’t mandated to wear them on planes. Happy that people who want to can and others can make their own choices. I’ve seen lots of people wearing masks at check in.
One thing I’m surprised about is the return to travel. We haven’t seen friends traveling as much as I would have thought. But, it’s clear there’s a huge surge as reports from Europe and elsewhere say that everything is packed and airports can’t even keep up.
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This is why I think mandatory mask wearing should be on all public transportation. I appreciate freedom of choice, but I don’t think that this situation (worldwide Covid and its variants) are applicable here. It’s an actual worldwide virus that spreads easily. We know the potential outcomes, and worse, there are those with “long Covid” and frankly we have zero clue what their health issues may be down the line. We can certainly slow down the spread with mask wearing.
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Last month i flew back to the US from London. Almost no one was masked. I chose not to mask.
On Amtrak yesterday somplace less than 50% of people were masked. I chose to mask.
I have generally gotten very lax in my mask wearing but am feeling pretty safe after i survived a super spreader event (one night this spring where 6 of the 8 people i was with in the bar got COVID)
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Following up. I had to sit next to a stranger on the train. Since she was masked, i chose to mask so as to not make her uncomfortable
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We are flying to Germany on Lufthansa later this month. Masks are required. Germans know how to do some things right.
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It all comes down the the basic conflict of rights that occurs when an action or inaction results in externalities (effects on unconsenting other people). This is not a new thing, since ancient societies made rules regarding such things (e.g. rules against murder and theft being obvious ones, but there were also ancient societies that made and documented quarantine rules to try to stop the spread of diseases).
Also required on Air Canada flights and in all Canadian airport terminals. When we flew in June I would say there was 90% compliance in the terminals and 100% on the planes.
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We’re still in a pandemic with a virus that spreads primarily and efficiently though airborne transmissions, are we not? With the levels of infections in this country (and most other countries), there’re guaranteed to be infected passengers/crew onboard on each flight. Considering how efficiently BA.5 can transmit, there’s no doubt some previously-uninfected passengers/crew would be infected without masking. If our goal is to help the virus spread everywhere, we’re certainly doing a very good job of it.
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This version of Covid is not nearly as harmful to most as the initial versions. Many are not too concerned about getting it.
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Yes, I agree that it isn’t as harmful to most people and many aren’t too concerned. However, there’re some issues with that argument or attitude. First, some people will still be seriously harmed. They may represent a smaller proportion of the population, but if the overall number of infections increases significantly due to the lack of precautions, the absolute number of those who are seriously harmed may still be unnecessarily large. Second, with higher level of transmissions, the virus has more opportunities to mutate. Each mutation will almost certainly make the virus more transmissive and evasive, but there’s no guarantee that each mutation will result in a less harmful virus.
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For those who think Covid these days is not to be feared or worried about, or just “deal with it”, I’ll give you that many more cases are mild thanks to vaccines and boosters. Many, not all and wow would’t most of us change our tune if someone we know/love got a severe case…
BUT, suppose you got on a plane where many people had a terrible cold. Would it be ok if they choose not to cover their face when they sneeze or cough? If they sat by you, shook your hand, blew their nose the whole flight? I mean, no big deal, right - the worst you’re going to get is a bad cold……
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Indeed!
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Brother and SIL are stopping off to visit us in San Diego in early November on their way home to Chicago from Hawaii. We are 10 minutes from the airport so I agreed to any of three potential flights home for them earliest at 8:15 am. Brother booked 8:15. Got an email from him this morning showing their flight was cancelled and they were rebooked at 6:15 am. His email: You can just drop us at the airport on the way home from dinner. My thoughts: Ha ha. My text answer; Hope you were able to switch to noon flight. His reply: Interesting idea, we will look into it. My thoughts! What!!! Better look hard.
Husband’s comment - hope they have a way to get to the airport.
Anyone have any insights on recent travel and carryons to Europe from the US. Normally, they don’t weigh carry ons. But I haven’t traveled since Covid. Are they actually weighing carryons? Recent flight path or airline is helpful as we are traveling on a number of carriers. We’re not big packers but also want to ensure the carryon doesn’t have to be checked with all the issues of lost baggage.
I bought an Apple Air Tag for our one checked bag. Even though I’ll know where it is, I may not be able to retrieve it. 
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