My Experience Traveling By Plane and Car During COVID-19 Pandemic Blog.jpg

During the 4th of July weekend, I took a trip to Oregon with one of my good friends. Initially, we wanted to plan the trip, where we wanted to minimize contact with people as much as possible. However, due to many factors such as rental cars being sold out in certain cities and expensive train rides, we settled on traveling by air and car. Taking a road trip up to Oregon might have been the safest option, but because we were limited by time, our best solution was flying to San Francisco, renting a car from there, and driving up to our destination. Here are some of the things I learned about traveling by air and car in this current pandemic.

Before you make your decision about traveling by air or car…

Make sure that you’re healthy enough to travel and show no symptoms of COVID-19, such as fever, muscle aches, loss of taste and smell, diarrhea, sore throat, nausea, and others listed by the CDC.
Weigh all the factors that might come into your decision-making process. Some factors might include the duration of your trip, availability of rental cars, the route of your trip, price, your personal situation (ex: if you have work the next day and you need to be back by a specific time), and the purpose of your trip (some travel to take photos, others are traveling to see family) to see if the trip is worth taking.
Consider researching how airlines and rental car companies protect their customers from COVID-19 and read through their policies on their website.
Check to see if the airlines that you will be booking with have a flexible cancellation policy. Some airlines like Alaska Airlines are waiving their cancellation fees for tickets that are purchased before September 8. If something comes up, you always want to have a plan B, and airlines are helping their passengers ease the pain of canceling by waiving fees during this difficult time.
Take into consideration the departure time of available flights. The earliest departures of the day are the best since airplanes tend to go through a heavy cleaning process overnight. This applies to all other forms of public transportation.

Before traveling…

Make sure to bring your face mask, alcohol-based hand sanitizer, and gloves. Put them in a place where it is easily accessible. All of these items are essential in keeping yourself and those around you safe from the virus.
You should check-in before going to the airport to speed up the process and minimize contact with people.

Ground experience to the airport

Before the pandemic started, traffic at LAX was one of the worst in the world. On average, it took around 45 minutes to an hour or more to get into LAX. My friend and I drove to the airport on a Friday morning, and there were almost no cars. We were a little surprised since this was a holiday weekend, so we expected at least some cars. We noticed that all of the airlines had suspended curbside check-in temporarily. We arrived at the Alaska Airlines terminal, which looked like a ghost town. There was no one waiting in line at the check-in and bag drop off counter, which made for a fast and easy check-in process.

The security line was empty at first, but as we made our way towards the entrance where they check for ID, there were a few people waiting in front of us. The wait wasn’t that long, and we were able to get past security with no problem.

Once we were inside the terminal, we noticed that most of the stores and restaurants were closed. A few restaurants, such as Habit were open. For convenience stores, they don’t allow anyone to touch any of the display items. My friend got yelled at by the store clerk just by pointing at an item.

There were many people in the seating area, which meant that this flight was going to be full. Luckily, everyone was adhering to the social distance guidelines as they made sure to keep six feet apart from each other while waiting for their flight.

Inflight experience

When we first entered the aircraft, everything looked clean as if they sanitized from top to bottom. For this particular flight, Alaska Airlines made sure that people who booked separately were seated by themselves while people who booked together sat next to each other. Passengers were not allowed to switch seats within the cabin for this flight unless they had permission to do so from the flight attendant. The first thing that my friend and I did was disinfect all the high-touch areas such as seatbelt, armrest, and tray table. For reference, our aircraft was the Embraer E175, which has a 76 seat configuration. We thought that the plane would be full, but it turned out that there were many seats that were open.

All flight attendants and passengers were required to wear masks at all times during the duration of the flight. They did not let anyone without a mask board the flight. If for some reason a passenger forgot their mask at home, they will be provided upon request. We noticed that Alaska Airlines has reduced its food and beverage service to limit interaction between flight attendants and guests. For this fifty minute flight to San Francisco, we only had three beverage options and two snack options.

One reassuring thing about Alaska Airlines is that all of their aircraft have the latest filtration technology in use according to their official website. Their aircraft are equipped with two HEPA filters that are 99.9% effective in eliminating bacteria, fungi, and viruses from the recirculated air. If this were any other airline and I know for sure that their planes do not have HEPA filters equipped, I would suggest turning off the air vents since there might be a possibility that the recirculated air will contain harmful particles relating to COVID-19. However, since Alaska Airlines aircraft has the newest air filtration technology, you shouldn’t have to worry about contaminated air.

Arrival Process

Upon arrival, we noticed that San Francisco was just as empty as LAX. We were surprised that there were no temperature checks upon arrival. At that time, there were no signs telling passengers to self-quarantine for 14 days.

After we got our luggage, we took the AirTrain to Hertz. When we got to Hertz, there were only two people in front of us at the counter. The lady that gave us our rental car did not tell us anything about COVID-19 protocols that the company is implementing. However, on the Hertz website, it says that they have implemented strict cleaning protocols where vehicles are cleaned and sanitized after every rental. Once we got our rental car, we wiped down “touch points” such as the steering wheel, front dashboard, seatbelts, and controls with disinfectants.

My Experience Traveling By Car

For this trip, we decided to fly into San Francisco airport and take a rental car all the way up to Portland, Oregon. We made a few pit stops along our route to take in all the beauty around us. We stopped at a lot of gas stations and we noticed that about half of them had their restrooms closed to the public. If you’re looking for a restroom, I suggest stopping at a rest area. Another important thing to keep in mind is to always wash your hands if you have the chance to do so! If you’re road-tripping along the countryside, you might not be able to go to a restroom for hours since most restrooms are closed due to COVID so plan accordingly.

We wanted to minimize face-to-face interactions as much as possible so when we paid for gas, we used credit cards instead of cash.

There were some instances where we had to touch possibly contaminated surfaces or objects such as doorknobs and gas pump handles. I recommend bringing a pack of reusable gloves so that you don’t touch contaminated surfaces with your bare hands but also to break the habit of touching your face or mouth.

On our trip, we tried to go on hiking trails that were lesser-known. However, we found that some hiking trails such as the Painted Hills Overlook were too crowded. Therefore we went to another hiking trail a mile past the overlook. This trail had only a few people since the hike is very short.

An Uncomfortable Moment

There was one instance during the trip where I felt very uncomfortable. I wanted to shoot inside this cave where if you time it right, you’re able to see the sun’s rays piercing through three holes that were at the top of the cave. It makes for an amazing visual and I wanted to photograph this scene for as long as I could remember. Once I got to the cave, I was with another group of people since they helped me down the cave. We walked to the end of the cave together where the light beams shine through. We set our tripods and our camera and we started shooting. The person next to me DID NOT have a mask and we were very close to each other. There was barely any legroom for me to move to a different spot since all the photographers had their own spot. We were all enclosed in a very small space. The only good thing was that the three holes at the top of the cave were used as air circulation. Still, this whole situation made me feel very uncomfortable. Luckily this was the only instance during the trip where I felt uncomfortable when I was out shooting.

Arriving Back Home & Things to Do After Coming Back From a Trip

Our departure flight from Portland was much more crowded than our first flight to San Francisco. The plane was considered “full” but each row had the middle seat open to ensure social distancing. It was pretty much the same experience as the flight to San Francisco.

After coming back from my trip, I tried to minimize close contact with my parents as much as possible. Through the County of Los Angeles COVID-19 website, I made an appointment to get tested for COVID. The CDC recommends that an individual wait four days after possible exposure to get tested since the virus can lay dormant inside a person’s body for a few days. If you get tested right away, there is a very high chance that your test result will come back as a false negative. Results can usually take up to 48 hours or a week, depending on the test site. My result came back within 48 hours, and I tested negative for the virus. I strongly recommend everyone who comes back from their travels to get tested to ensure the wellbeing of the individual and the safety of others.

Pros and Cons of Traveling By Plane

Pros:

Because of the pandemic, airports are changing for the better. In a Bloomberg article, future airports will have no check-in or security lines to provide a more efficient, quick, stress-free experience
Little to no airport traffic at the moment
Prices for flight tickets are cheap right now
Flexible cancellation policies for flights
The majority of aircrafts now are equipped with high-grade HEPA filters which destroys most bacteria as mentioned earlier in this blog post. Thus debunking the misconception that you have to turn the ac off when flying.

Cons:

Limited number of flights, so if the flight gets canceled, you will have to wait longer than normal for the next available flight
You may have to self-quarantine for 14 days if you are coming from a specific state
Being inside the airport poses a greater risk than making pitstops when traveling by car

Pros and Cons of Traveling By Car

Pros:

Privacy and limited face-to-face interactions than any other form of travel
You can control who gets into the car with you compared to other forms of travel
Considered the safest among other forms of travel as long as you know the other person’s risk of infection level
Little to no traffic during this time

Cons:

Making frequent pitstops along the way can increase your chance of contracting the virus

I hope this blog post was helpful for you to decide which form of travel will be best suited for you or if you need to travel at all during this time. Remember to follow social distance guidelines and always have your face masks, sanitizer, and gloves ready in any type of situation. And as always, leave no trace behind!

Read more about my past travels:

Blog