Thought it might be interesting to get recent experiences on corporate/personal travel with Airlines and Hotels in the post-COVID19 world. We recently flew two one-way legs and had an overnight stay in Corpus Christi TX this week. Out of Tampa on American, and back on United through Houston. We spent the night in a Fairfield in Corpus.
Things that stood out for me from this week's trip:
- I'd say overall traffic in the concourse and terminal was perhaps 10% of the "norm" previously.
- Mask wearing rate was maybe 90%. TPA had announcements about mandatory use on property. Both airlines mentioned masks in the pre-flight.
- American decided to bev the passengers next to the gate at the time you were boarding the plane. I thought this was a good idea. You got handed a paper bag with small water bottle, and a snack (cookie). There was no in flight service or need to run the cart up and down.
- United opted to keep the carts, and did a water only plus canned bev service on our IAH to TPA leg.
- Both airlines boarded straight up coach class by row numbers, starting at the back of the plane. This made a lot of sense to me and I'm not sure why it's not done more often.
- On disembarking; similar. They actually made an announcement for folks to please sit back and they would call exit by rows. What surprised me slightly was that everyone actually did that.
As to our brief hotel stay:
- The hotel was not able to offer the typical Marriott Hot breakfast. Just muffins and snack bars.
- No daily maid service. In fact if you wanted anything, you were told to come by the front desk for e.g. Towels, TP, etc. They did not make up the rooms except in between guests.
...and of course many many social distancing signage up everywhere. Frequent passenger announcements.
I'm retired but am pretty familiar with corporate travel and with my personal life; lifetime Marriott Gold and Delta Platinum etc. I'm sure some of you are Million Milers. What are you guys seeing in terms of changes in Air travel post-COVID? Better or worse? How about hotels? Anything out of the ordinary or norm? Please share your thoughts.