Post COVID Airline and Hotel Travel

[RJ]

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.

[Joe in PNG]

I was struck how after people were ask to sit and wait until their row was called before disembarking, everyone just hopped up and crowded the asiles as soon as the lights went out. At least we got open middle seats.

Australia was fun, as anyone entering the country had to go to a state provided quarantine hotel, with extra security provided. Most are in for two weeks mandatory, but I had an exemption since I was just there to transit.

[ranger]

I was a Delta Diamond. Traveled multiple times per month. I expect business travel to be extremely curtailed at first due to CV19 and then because we are doing just fine as a company with almost no travel. Conferences are going virtual. Not sure we will ever travel as much as a company again.

[Austin Millbarge]

I’m flying from Boston to Reno next week. Going to Thunder Ranch. I’m curious how it’ll go with the Rona still around.

[MGW]

All work related travel stuff over the summer has been canceled by the organizer or turned into a virtual event. Our family vacation the end of the month is still a go but we’re traveling by car. I’m considering canceling our motel at the halfway point. The biggest attraction of a motel is breakfast the next morning.

[SecondsCount]

I thoroughly despise airline travel. It isn't because of a fear of flying, but because I hate being treated like a criminal, then jammed into a little seat and breathe everyone else's air for several hours.

My last trip was 4000 miles round and I drove. I brought my dog and whatever guns I wanted to bring, and enjoyed seeing sights I had never seen before.

[mtnbkr]

I was a Delta Diamond. Traveled multiple times per month. I expect business travel to be extremely curtailed at first due to CV19 and then because we are doing just fine as a company with almost no travel. Conferences are going virtual. Not sure we will ever travel as much as a company again.

I only traveled for work 2-4x a year, and then mostly to the UK, but I expect the same will hold true for us. Work has not slowed down at all and the division I'm in is almost entirely WFH since March. It'll be difficult to justify in-person team meetings (we're quite distributed) once this is all over. Per what I was told last week, we're not expecting to permit international travel for the rest of the calendar year regardless of the legal/regulatory state regarding such travel. If a material impact upon our capability fails to materialize, we may never see the level of travel we were engaging in up until Feb 2020.

Chris