What It was Like to Fly at the Start of the Pandemic

Want to know what it was like to fly when all this craziness started? Don your mask, and let’s go!

In the beginning of 2020, I “got stuck” in the United States in Kansas with some friends. I got to have so many fun adventures and made some delicious food. I made Creamed Eggs and Ham and Cornmeal Citrus Pound Cake for the first time. But then I decided it was time to fly home to Canada! While I was away, my sister had had a baby and I was super excited to meet my niece. But I was also really worried to fly.

However, once I got into the airport everything went smoothly! There were way less people, especially in the big airports like Toronto and Chicago. Everyone was super good about spacing out when sitting so no one was sitting next to anyone at the gates. I flew with United and Air Canada.

You had to wear a mask the entire time, except while eating and drinking. That part I found a little hard, but I braved through.

Throughout the security check point lane, there were stickers on the ground reminding people to stay 6 feet apart.

Security in the Airport

Security was really no different then before. At the check in point, where they scan your boarding pass and look at your ID, they make you take your mask off to compare with the ID. They also make you scan your own pass. However! It was funny because when it was my turn to go through, I scanned my boarding pass. Then I handed the guy at the desk my ID and got ready to take my mask off. He says “oh, don’t bother! I can tell by the eyes.” And I didn’t have to take off my mask haha!

Most of the workers wore face shields as well as masks which was a strange sight but I got used to it as some of the people in the airport also wore them.

All the flights were on time and running smoothly which was neat to see they did a good job with that! Ironically, the day I left there was a lightning storm and the plane couldn’t take off so we got delayed about half an hour. This almost made me miss my next connecting flight but I made it!

When I boarded the plane from Chicago to Toronto, they checked my temperature. Coming into Canada, I had to fill out a “Covid form” basically stating where I was going to be self isolating, when I left Canada and the flight number of the plane I arrived on. I presented that to the border guard as well as my customs form. It was super simple and he just asked me if I knew about the isolation rules and made sure I had the address of where I would be staying.

On the Plane

They did a great job of spacing people out on the planes and I didn’t have to sit next to anyone on my three flights! There was less than 40 people each flight.

They didn’t serve food or drinks on the planes. Some of the flights they did offer bottled water and hand sanitizer.

I wiped down my seat, seat belts and arm rests with anti bacterial wipes before being seated. On one of the flights they provided wipes, the other two I used my own.

When disembarking the aircraft, they did it by rows so as to limit the amount of people in the hallways, etc.

What You Should Take With You

Masks

You must bring your own as the airport doesn’t provide them!

Sanitizer

I had a liquid hand sanitizer in a spray bottle which was handy to spray on things like my backpack after it went through security. Or any items that I had to put in the bins. Going into security the first time they didn’t make me take any items out of my backpack but the security checkpoint before the border they did. So I quickly sprayed the bag my liquids were in before putting it back in my backpack.