Airline travel during COVID 19 – Quintana Roo, Mexico

We recently had the experience of flying from Mexico to the United States for an essential meeting.  Trust me when I tell you we did not want to go.  The thoughts of flying during a world-wide pandemic was not at the top of our list of things to do.  Nevertheless, we cautiously prepared. This blog post is about our experience flying from the Cancun airport in Mexico, on JetBlue airlines; our destination is not important and has been intentionally left out of this blog.

Pre-Flight: 

For starters, we downloaded JetBlue’s free app for touchless check-in, luggage tags, and boarding. When it was time to check-in online, we also completed our health declaration forms.  In addition, the airline also offers at-home COVID-19 testing kits, with results available 48-72 hours.  

Before we even got to the airport, JetBlue sent out several advance email reminders telling all passengers about their mask requirements for any traveler ages 2 and older.  It was very reassuring that the airline was taking this pandemic seriously and expected their passengers to do the same.  The emails indicated masks were required while boarding the plane, during the flight, and leaving the plane. 

At Airport:

Once we arrived at the airport, that was a different story.  There were several announcements over the airports public address system that wearing masks was required, however, there was no one enforcing that people wore their mask. Some people wore their masks correctly, making sure they covered their mouths and noses. While others wore them under their noses or around their necks. And there were several people walking around or sitting that did not have their mask on at all.  We must admit, seeing this behavior was unsettling, especially given all the information available on how to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19.

The airport was aggressive about making sure all passengers completed a health declaration form with contact tracing information.  In fact, if this form was not completed, you were not allowed through the security line. Again, this was a reassuring step, and all but guaranteed that if any of us became infected from the flight, we would be notified so we could get tested and treated immediately.

The airport restaurants and shops were open and busy.  Some restaurants had partitions between tables, but many did not.  And forget about physical distancing between people.  If there were any places where passengers needed to form a line, distancing went straight out the window. In terms of airport seating, the seats were marked “no seating” on every other seat, to assist with physical distancing.

On the Plane:

During boarding everyone wore their masks, including the flight
crew.  The crew were polite as usual and continued to remind everyone about the policy of wearing mask correctly and protecting each other.  The crew also reminded us that if any passengers removed their masks and did not comply with their policies, they would be removed from the plane.  To be honest, this was music to my ears.  With so many incidents being reported on the news showing people fighting and arguing over wearing masks, we were just relieved that we were all warned…so no surprises! 

The crew did an excellent job with seating.  Where there were open seats, people were staggered. In addition, the crew handed out little sanitation packets.  We do carry our own sanitizer and immediately sanitized our little area (window, seat, headrest and seatbelt, tray table, armrest, light, and vent above our heads…basically everything).  They also provided free WiFi, snacks and beverages, but we respectfully declined the food and drink.  We wanted to reduce contact as much as possible. And very few people used the restrooms, including ourselves. All in all, the flight was uneventful…

After deplaning and picking up our luggage, we headed to the rent-a-car company.  We were extremely impressed with how they had everything set-up with COVID-19 safety precautions.  There were clear markings on the floor and eye-level signs, and the attendant was behind a protective shield.  With all the signage, it was quite easy to keep physical distance. The entire process was set-up to be touch-less.

In closing, the entire experience was a little nerve-racking, but we survived.  We recognize that the world doesn’t stop due to a pandemic, but sadly, for 1, 335,000 people and counting it did. 

Stay safe!  

Statistics from Johns Hopkins University: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/ 

U.S. cases as of 12/31/2020 – 19.9 million

U.S. deaths as of 12/31/2020 – 334,525

Global cases as of 12/31/2020 – 83.2 million

Global deaths as of 12/31/2020 – 1.81 million