Tag Archives for coronavirus.
Texas isn’t requiring quarantine of everyone traveling into the state. However a new executive order from the Governor has expanded the quarantine order for airport arrivals and imposed its first quarantine order for drivers as well.
We don’t want people to travel from highly infected areas (because they might be infected) to areas where the virus isn’t spreading (because that could bring it in).
Having someone with the virus traveling to an area where there’s already significant spread doesn’t really change anything. If you don’t have COVID-19, you won’t make other people sick. And with so few people on planes, social distancing is easy, the actual travel itself is fairly low risk for passengers – though higher risk for flight attendants.
The saying ‘not all heroes wear capes’ has become trite and is frequently used ironically. But how else are you supposed to describe a Southwest Airlines plane full of doctors and nurses flying into the hardest hit region for the novel coronavirus?
Each of these women and men are taking on real personal risk to help the people of New York. There’s not enough personal protective gear. Over 50 doctors have died of COVID-19 in Italy so far. And yet they’re all smiling, even knowing what’s in store.
This aircraft was used to bring German patients suffering from COVID-19 out of Italy and home for care. The aircraft is a 30 year old, ex-Lufthansa Airbus A310 belonging to the German Air Force with “the medevac kit installed.”
Thailand was the first country outside of China with a confirmed COVID-19 patient. It’s generally considered to have done well containing the virus, currently reporting just 1245 total cases, though I’m skeptical of testing and reporting at least outside of Bangkok.
The King of Thailand also must be skeptical, because he’s quarantined himself in Germany where there are over 56,000 cases. King Maha Vajiralongkorn has rented out the entire Grand Hotel Sonnenbichl to isolate himself “with his harem of 20 women and his servants.”
Rhode Island doesn’t want any loopholes in their new ban on New Yorkers seeking refuge in the state. The U.S. now has over 112,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19, nearly 40% more than China has reported. And half of all U.S. cases are in New York and New Jersey.
Police in Rhode Island are now stopping cars with New York license plates and the state’s National Guard is conducting house-to-house searches to find New Yorkers and impose a 14 day quarantine. According to the Governor of the state, their “risk is called New York City.”
A part of Birmingham airport in the U.K. is being converted to a makeshift morgue to initially hold 1500 bodies but with plans to covert to 12,000 as the need arises. Existing storage capacity is expected to be overwhelmed, and staff transferred to the airport facility to handle the volume.
China has seen our future, both in terms of economic collapse and how social relations change after what people are experiencing. Food delivery in the U.S. took a queue from China offering ‘leave food at the door’ as an option to ensure social distancing between driver and consumer.
Now that businesses in China are re-opening, we have a glimpse into how they’re protecting their employees, and how they’re changing the products that they offer to appeal to consumers.
What United says is the reality of the industry. Fewer customers, fewer flights, will be serviced by fewer people. Allocating nearly $60 billion to the U.S. airline industry hasn’t changed that. It’s just delayed it to the fall.
In coach you can have a tray for the drink you brought on board yourself, a tray for the sandwich, and a tray for your laptop or tablet. You can stay as far away from other passengers and cabin crew as you wish, more or less. In first class you’re packed in next to people.
Why on earth are people accepting upgrades now?
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
