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A cautionary tale

Terry

100+ Posts
I also posted this on FB (Long post)

We have just returned from our trip to Israel, (first flight in almost two years), and I have to report that our flying experience was way way out of my comfort zone. We flew in and out of Newark. Lufthansa on the way over, SwissAir (thru Lufthansa) on the way home. We had been canceled by United one month before our trip (!) - it was our original choice and a nonstop flight, with no replacement flights for us. So we flew Lufthansa business, rates were really affordable. The airport business lounge was very crowded, no distancing, and masks off while eating. We left there. The rest of the airport was crowded too. Wherever people ate, their masks were off. Queues getting onto the plane, distancing was even worse. Of course, in order to fly to Israel, you had to show proof of vaccinations (we’re triple), and a negative PCR test within 72 hrs of departure. But as we all know, you can be negative today and positive tomorrow. More on that later.

We wore our masks the entire flight, except to eat. Proper mask-wearing is uneven at best; I saw lots of nostrils and lips. I’ve been extremely cautious these past two years, and only recently have we dined outdoors. The flight experience was disturbing. We had a connecting flight in Frankfurt (HATE that airport); had to take a jam-packed shuttle bus to our new gate.

Landed in Israel on Saturday; all travelers are required to take another PCR test at the airport (~$20 pre-paid, $27 on site). Results were back <24° later via email, but you must shelter in place until you’re proven negative. We were fine. My niece and her family, who live/flew in from London, tested negative but were only double-vaxxed, so she needed a repeat test 7 days after her arrival, which was the following Thursday. She got repeat test results the next day, on Friday, while we were all at the wedding —— she and her 3 year old daughter were positive! We were all exposed, and everyone at the wedding. A super-spreader event! I can’t even.

Stu and I tested negative after the wedding, and before our flight. The bride tested positive on Sunday.

We got home last night and tested negative this morning. Will be sheltering for the next week, and will continue serial testing. We feel fine so far. My niece, her daughter, and the bride all felt “under the weather” - no fevers, no loss of sense of smell/taste.

We got out of Israel just in time, as the country has just closed its borders to travelers due to the omicron variant. We have tickets and are supposed to go to London in mid-January to finally visit my little grandsons. I’m honestly not sure if this will happen or not.
 
I know. We’re calling this the Corona wedding from hell. Zoom would have been better.

Just got off the phone with my son - both my grandsons (age 2 and 4) have just tested positive. They live in London. There was a case at the older one’s school, and then he gave it to the younger one. So far, they just have cold symptoms, no fevers.
 
Wow, what an ordeal. The discouraging thing is your family members were so careful and some still got infected. This whole thing is just insidious.
 
I flew to Heathrow yesterday from Tirana. I had a business class seat (it was not expensive and I have a ton of BA credit to burn.) I was happy to be in the quiet Tirana lounge but even the common departure area was not too bad. However, they crammed us all on those buses to take us to the plane when we could have walked. The plane was 50 meters away! Then there was one woman also in business who was not wearing a mask waiting to board. The counter guy told her to put one on, but she ignored him.

She was two rows up from me, put her mask on until it was time to drink and then it came off. She was coughing.. a lot.. I don’t understand how she could think this would not make people nervous.

I took my mask off only to eat. And kept it on even while taking sips of wine after that. But a lot of people just kept them off.

I hope your grandsons are ok Terry, I am hoping mild symptoms are everybody’s future. And I truly hope you will make it to London next month.
 
Luckily I don't have to travel and have not used any form of public transport during Covid. For those that have to travel, they don't need me there increasing the risk to them (nor they to me). Sure I miss Italy, or even a food shopping day trip to London, but I'd enjoy them significantly less with the concerns they currently bring.

As for the crammed bus, that is indeed reckless, but not especially surprising. Without any voice to challenge this, nor any alternative, the airports will continue to treat passengers like cattle. The only alternative I'm aware of, is using the smallest of the small airports, where buses would be an unnecessary overhead, where it really is as easy as walking out of the terminal and onto the plane. Our own local airport Norwich is like this, as is the tiny Cambridge airport (1 gate, 1 lounge and the person who checks you in also sees you onto the plane, plus car parking is a 30 second to 1 minute walk from the check in desk). IIRC Parma airport was small enough that you walked to the plane (and they also had serviceable espresso at the same standard €1 'al banco' price as the city cafes).
 
Ian, you are doing the right thing. Unfortunately, too many people don’t take the pandemic seriously, and I believe there are many people who feel entitled, and also those who reason to themselves - everyone else is wearing the mask, so why should I, I’ll be protected.

The airlines have a bottom line $$. They could do much better. On our connecting flight to Israel, the gentleman behind us stood most of the flight. He was like a hawk - the mask police. Whenever he saw someone not masking, or improperly masking, he went to the flight attendant and asked her to please advise the passenger to mask up. It worked.
 
In the summer of 2009 we spent a month in the UK then flew to Geneva. That was the summer of Swine Flu. On the flight someone was coughing a couple of rows behind us. Steve came down with it first a few days after the flight, I got it a week later. We had three weeks in Switzerland with one, or both, of us very sick. But Swine Flu was not like Covid. We didn’t even go to a doctor. Just isolated and slept. Luckily we were booked into one vacation rental for two weeks then moved to another for the third week. After that we were recovered.

The airports scare me now because you have no control. You can’t choose to walk instead of get on a bus. During this pandemic we’ve only done driving vacations but then you spend a lot more time getting somewhere (3 days drive to Switzerland).
 
The plane was literally a 30 second walk away and there was a crosswalk. But they still made us get on the bus. Very weird.
The bus drivers must have a powerful workers' union...;).

Here in Israel the airports are run by the Israel Aviation Authority, which is basically a monopoly with zero competition. This makes the int'l airports here some of the most expensive in the world, with pretty poor service. The workers' committee tends to strike at the height of the tourist season, of course. They almost always get what they want.
Not the only part of the economy that is run like this here, making the cost of living in Israel relatively very high. Tourists obviously feel this as well.

In Albania, it might be a completely opposite case, though - wages are probably very low, unemployment might be high, and services that are not really needed are cheap enough to be continued. Especially if the gov't is in charge of the airport, and not some outsourced entity.

I agree with the feelings expressed here, that travel has become more of a personal risk management issue. Add to that the lessened enjoyment because of the restrictions and social distancing, and my personal preference is just to forget about travel for now.
 
This story would be almost funny if it weren't so pathetic. A couple months ago we were at the Phoenix airport to fly back to Boston. There is a mask mandate inside the terminal. At another checkpoint line I saw a male pull down his mask in order to sneeze, and then put the mask back up.

What the hell are people thinking??!!:jawdrop:
 
Oh Terry, so sorry your family is going through such stressful times. And glad that nothing seems life threatening. (I'll say Pooh, pooh; I'm too old to be embarrassed by taking a chance to scare off the evil eye.)

Ah, just realized that I never did the click that posts the replyl
 

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