International travel during COVID-19 — empty flights and vacant airports

COVID-19 has shone a light on the customs and habits we, as a modern society no longer question or think twice about. The “invisible killer” as many heads of states like to call it, has prevented us for almost half a year now from engaging in the practices that make our world a symbol of globalization. According to the International Air Transport Association, 4.4 billion people travelled by plane in 2018 — that’s more than half of the global population that year (IATA, 2019). Mass tourism is both a symptom of our dying planet and a representation of the globalized mindset that has taken over the 21st century. While I will not delve deeply into the one-click human need for novelty and leisure existent in society today, I will however tell you what international travel is like when mass tourism becomes a temporarily, perhaps permanently, extinct species.

In March, as China was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel after a catastrophic outbreak and a highly surveilled ten-week lock down, other countries like Italy and Iran were drowning in COVID-19 victims. My flight to France was one of the few, if not the last to leave San Francisco before mandatory confinement of the population began on both ends. On March 16th, 2020 masks were not required on planes and the handful of people who did wear them had not been exposed to proper usage or protective gestures, rendering them futile. I spent the next two months experiencing lock down in one of the most impacted regions of France: Paris and its direct vicinity with hopes still to return to California shortly after. At first, flights remained scheduled between the Schengen area and the United States allowing many to return home before getting stuck in a foreign country. However, the duties that had called me to France in the first place forced me to remain there for the entirety of the eight-week lock down during which flight restrictions became even stricter. While airlines were offering free rebooking, my immediate challenge became finding flights with minimal probability of being cancelled. With reduced staff in air businesses globally, the hiccups were abundant and it took perseverance, patience and a number of extra days before I stepped on the first of a long series of planes intended to bring me back to the sunny West coast.

I realize that many will not get the chance to experience travel during the corona virus crisis so I thought I would shed some light on the process. As I’ve already mentioned, finding a flight is already a feat in itself and if you do find one, you’d better have a pretty good reason (and physical proof) for why you should board that plane. I met a fellow traveler who was refused boarding at his gate in Paris because picking up his new car in Germany wasn’t a good enough reason to fly. Once you’ve got proof and a boarding pass, you can travel with minimal luggage (one carry-on item for all) and you must wear a mask at all times. Here is the caveat though: at Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport, no one past security was policing and enforcing the mask rule. On top of that, you get to take it off at every security check to flash a beautiful smile to prove that you are indeed the person featured on your passport’s photo. And while airport staff are keen on reminding you of the 1 meter rule between passengers, this becomes totally obsolete when the plane lands and everyone stands up at the same time battling to grab their carry-on luggage first. Food and drinks services are definitely reduced on board and with 90% of airport convenience and food stores closed, you’d better plan ahead for your travel. On my international flight from Frankfurt to New York, each person did receive their own 1.5L water bottle, an unusual sight in economy class. As for the actual logistics of flying, well, terminals are basically empty and so is your plane making it a rather pleasant experience. However, though you might feel more rested than normal when stepping off the plane thanks to all of the empty seats around you, you do risk being quarantined at a hotel (not of your choice) upon arrival. In the US, representatives of the CDC await your arrival with their digital thermometers and you’d better have filled out your copy of the “traveler health declaration” if you want to be admitted into the country. After that, if your temperature is within range and you have no suspicious answer to the mandatory health questions, it’s pretty much smooth sailing through the largely empty immigration line. Unfortunately, the travel procedure doesn’t end when you pick up your luggage. A two-week voluntary self-quarantine awaits at home and no warm welcome from family or friends who will probably view you as a dangerous, contaminated alien until proven otherwise at the end of the auspicious fourteen-day period. So if you plan extra time before and after your actual travel dates and you find a way to wear your mask somewhat comfortably, the process isn’t all that complicated or unpleasant.

While many will not experience travel during the COVID-19 crisis, we do face the bigger question of what traveling post-covid will look like. Will we fall back into ecologically harmful mass tourism or find more sustainable sources of leisure? Will there be restrictions or mandatory quarantines when traveling internationally? What about families who like mine, live between two or more countries? 2020 has so far been a year of paradigm shifts for humanity and my hope is that we learn and grow from it to create a more sustainable and equitable world.