Betty_Rose
Veteran Member
Recently, I flew out to Arizona for a work-related thing, and flew home later that day. It was a 22-hour day from start to finish.
I wanted to give a report of what I experienced.
Our flight departed STL (St. Louis) at 6:10 am (Southwest Airlines). I got to the airport about 90 minutes early, which apparently is no longer necessary! I have a "known traveler ID" so I can go through expedited security at the airport.
That didn't matter either. There were two passengers in line in "Pre-check" lines. TWO.
In the regular security lines, there were maybe five passengers. It was surreal.
Terminal Two (dedicated to Southwest Airlines at STL) was a ghost town. There were more workers at the airport than passengers. It truly was like Zombie Apocalypse. Very eerie.
All the food and snack places were open, but those lines were also very short. Even Starbucks, which typically has a line 15 deep, had only two people waiting for their morning coffee.
I have flown out of this airport probably 25 times in the last ten years, and I have never seen it this deserted. Typically, you have to wait in line for the bathroom, and when you step out of the bathroom, you catch the "tidal wave" of people moving toward their gate. I don't think that I saw 200 passengers in the entire airport, and that was while walking the entire breadth of the thing (which I think has 13 "in use" gates).
There's a rule that you are required to don a face mask when you enter the airport, and you're not to remove until you have LEFT the airport grounds at your final destination. That was the hardest part for me.
Several times, feeling like I could not breathe, I slipped the mask down to my chin and just sat in a corner, facing toward the glass (looking out). Within three hours, my mask was wet and gross. You can't walk 1-2 miles in an airport, and not do a lot of serious breathing.
We boarded the plane on time which was a huge relief. Some large number of flights are just being CANCELED every day now.
Here's where it gets even stranger. My flight time from STL to PHX (Phoenix) was 3:15, and that's gate to gate. The airlines pad these times dramatically, so that they're always "on time."
Pre-Covid, the plane often arrived at the final destination gate up to 30 minutes early, and the pilot would announce, "Look how early we are! We get you there on time!"
Our flight departed STL on time and we touched down 3 hours and 15 minutes later. I knew that we were flying slowly.
My brother was tracking my flight and he told me later that once we reached "cruising altitude" our speed was 439 mph. That's about 80 mph SLOWER than normal. I suspect that they're doing it to save fuel.
On the flight, we were offered only a small cup of water (which had to be requested) and a tiny bag of pretzels. If anyone let their mask slip, there were stern and fast admonitions from the stewardesses.
We flew on a 737-700, which on Southwest Airlines holds 149 people. The flight going out had 41 people on board.
Coming home (Phoenix to St. Louis), we departed on time, and that flight had 28 people on board. The estimated flying time was 2 hours and 45 minutes. We departed on time and touched down 2 hours and 45 minutes later. I suspect that was another "slow" flight.
During the course of the flight, I fell soundly asleep. Before I dozed off, I moved my mask down below my nose (still covering my mouth) because it was filthy by now and I was feeling some real anxiety having that thing over my face for several hours. (I got to the airport three hours early in Phoenix for the convenience of my host.)
While I was in the deepest sleep, the stewardess jabbed me hard with her index finger THREE TIMES in my upper arm. It startled me so badly that I screamed as I awakened, saying, "WHAT? WHAT?"
I thought that the plane was being evacuated. It was very disorienting.
She said that my mask had to cover my full face immediately and was very, very rude about the whole thing.
The second I got off out of that airport, I threw my mask into the garbage.
It was a 1,400-mile trip (one way) and a business thing, and there's no way I could do that by car, but flying just got a whole lot worse. This was my first post-Covid flight, and it was mighty unpleasant.
And there's this: How can the airlines continue to operate, flying 28 people on a jet that holds 149? That can't even cover their fuel costs.
The times, they are a'changing.
I wanted to give a report of what I experienced.
Our flight departed STL (St. Louis) at 6:10 am (Southwest Airlines). I got to the airport about 90 minutes early, which apparently is no longer necessary! I have a "known traveler ID" so I can go through expedited security at the airport.
That didn't matter either. There were two passengers in line in "Pre-check" lines. TWO.
In the regular security lines, there were maybe five passengers. It was surreal.
Terminal Two (dedicated to Southwest Airlines at STL) was a ghost town. There were more workers at the airport than passengers. It truly was like Zombie Apocalypse. Very eerie.
All the food and snack places were open, but those lines were also very short. Even Starbucks, which typically has a line 15 deep, had only two people waiting for their morning coffee.
I have flown out of this airport probably 25 times in the last ten years, and I have never seen it this deserted. Typically, you have to wait in line for the bathroom, and when you step out of the bathroom, you catch the "tidal wave" of people moving toward their gate. I don't think that I saw 200 passengers in the entire airport, and that was while walking the entire breadth of the thing (which I think has 13 "in use" gates).
There's a rule that you are required to don a face mask when you enter the airport, and you're not to remove until you have LEFT the airport grounds at your final destination. That was the hardest part for me.
Several times, feeling like I could not breathe, I slipped the mask down to my chin and just sat in a corner, facing toward the glass (looking out). Within three hours, my mask was wet and gross. You can't walk 1-2 miles in an airport, and not do a lot of serious breathing.
We boarded the plane on time which was a huge relief. Some large number of flights are just being CANCELED every day now.
Here's where it gets even stranger. My flight time from STL to PHX (Phoenix) was 3:15, and that's gate to gate. The airlines pad these times dramatically, so that they're always "on time."
Pre-Covid, the plane often arrived at the final destination gate up to 30 minutes early, and the pilot would announce, "Look how early we are! We get you there on time!"
Our flight departed STL on time and we touched down 3 hours and 15 minutes later. I knew that we were flying slowly.
My brother was tracking my flight and he told me later that once we reached "cruising altitude" our speed was 439 mph. That's about 80 mph SLOWER than normal. I suspect that they're doing it to save fuel.
On the flight, we were offered only a small cup of water (which had to be requested) and a tiny bag of pretzels. If anyone let their mask slip, there were stern and fast admonitions from the stewardesses.
We flew on a 737-700, which on Southwest Airlines holds 149 people. The flight going out had 41 people on board.
Coming home (Phoenix to St. Louis), we departed on time, and that flight had 28 people on board. The estimated flying time was 2 hours and 45 minutes. We departed on time and touched down 2 hours and 45 minutes later. I suspect that was another "slow" flight.
During the course of the flight, I fell soundly asleep. Before I dozed off, I moved my mask down below my nose (still covering my mouth) because it was filthy by now and I was feeling some real anxiety having that thing over my face for several hours. (I got to the airport three hours early in Phoenix for the convenience of my host.)
While I was in the deepest sleep, the stewardess jabbed me hard with her index finger THREE TIMES in my upper arm. It startled me so badly that I screamed as I awakened, saying, "WHAT? WHAT?"
I thought that the plane was being evacuated. It was very disorienting.
She said that my mask had to cover my full face immediately and was very, very rude about the whole thing.
The second I got off out of that airport, I threw my mask into the garbage.
It was a 1,400-mile trip (one way) and a business thing, and there's no way I could do that by car, but flying just got a whole lot worse. This was my first post-Covid flight, and it was mighty unpleasant.
And there's this: How can the airlines continue to operate, flying 28 people on a jet that holds 149? That can't even cover their fuel costs.
The times, they are a'changing.