What It’s Like to Fly Internationally During Coronavirus

As my second year in Spain was coming to an end, it was time for me to plan my return home. Remembering the true horror of last summer spent in Madrid — record-breaking heat waves and a lack of air conditioning — I knew I needed to leave Madrid before July. But in April, at the same time I was considering my exit, the coronavirus pandemic was also taking over the world… particularly Europe. Hoping that things would return to some semblance of normal by then, I decided I would leave Spain on July 1.

In general, I’m accustomed to paying about $300 one way from Madrid to a large U.S. city such as Boston or Chicago. Then, I use Southwest points accumulated from my former life as a traveling tech consultant to get me back to Kansas City. In this case, however, I had to make a choice: pay $2,000+ for a semi-direct flight, or pay $200 to fly Madrid-Paris-Newark-(stay overnight)-LaGuardia-Kansas City?

I chose option #2, but my mom later informed me that I made the wrong choice. It’s true that it was going to be a big pain in the ass to do all that traveling with all my suitcases. Plus, more flights and more layovers meant more risks of being exposed to coronavirus. In the end, I was able to get an American Airlines flight from Madrid-Dallas-Kansas City.

Now that I’m home, I wanted to share information about my experience of traveling internationally during the coronavirus pandemic. While I don’t condone flying internationally right now — we should still be staying at home as much as possible — I recognize that there are other people who may be in a similar unique situation and are curious about what to expect.

Booking Your Flight

As I mentioned, you should be prepared to pay more than you’re used to paying. I’m not sure if the extremely high price tag was a result of having less passengers on board, the airline trying to recover lost income from the spring, or a combination of factors. But if you must travel, expect to pay a lot in order to do so.

There may be some “benefits” in this situation. No, I didn’t get to sit in first class or anything. But when I booked my flight, not every class of service was available. I couldn’t book an economy ticket — only “premium economy.” (This could also be a reason for the higher ticket price.) But from the time I booked, it seemed like the flight from Madrid to Dallas would be nearly empty, which was good.

 

For some reason I was also able to choose a “Main Cabin Extra” seat for my flight between Dallas and KC. Usually, choosing a better seat means you have to pay an additional fee. But this time, that wasn’t the case. As most economy seats were full and I didn’t see an additional price tag to choose a Main Cabin Extra seat, I decided to choose one that provided the most physical distance between myself and any other passengers.

At the Airport

When my friend Nick left Spain for the U.S. — one day before Trump’s travel ban went into effect — I accompanied him to the airport in Madrid. Even though he didn’t need to check a bag, the line for American Airlines flight check-in was wrapped around the airport lobby. I knew the situation would be different this time, nearly 4 months later, but I still wanted to arrive early to check my two bags and get to the gate without too much stress.

I asked my friend Ellie to come to the airport with me, since my two large checked bags and rolling carry-on were a lot for one person. After arriving at Terminal 4, security was waiting to validate the boarding passes of anyone entering the airport. Which meant that Ellie wasn’t even able to come with me to the check-in desk. And that I was forced to fend for myself with the three large bags after all.

Luckily, there was no line at the American Airlines desk this time. I checked my bags quickly and proceeded to security. The Madrid airport always has short lines when it comes to security, but this time it was like a ghost town. Looking at the flight information boards, there were about 30 flights scheduled for the entire day. And every restaurant or shop in the airport was closed. The only places to get snacks or drinks were vending machines.

Usually, long-haul international flights from T4 in Madrid are from the satellite terminal, T4S. You have to take a shuttle from T4. But this time, my flight gate was in the regular T4 departures hall, at the very end with a very small passport control checkpoint. Once I arrived at the gate, I could tell there weren’t going to be many people on the flight. It seemed like we were all Americans returning home after an extended period of time in Spain.

One more thing…

In the Madrid airport, as is required everywhere else in Spain, you’re required to wear a mask. There are very few exceptions to this. And since wearing a mask isn’t a political statement in Spain (it’s just common sense and common decency), everyone was complying with the rule.

On the Plane

Premium Economy was probably the closest I’ll ever get to being in first class. Actually, I probably would have thought it was at least Business Class or something if I hadn’t accidentally glimpsed the real first class on my way inside the plane…

As I expected, the plane was nowhere near full. I could tell from the seat map that my section would be empty, but I wasn’t sure about regular economy class. When I got up to stretch my legs around the 5-hour mark, I walked all the way to the back of the plane. There were probably about 40-50 people on the flight. The plane’s capacity is 215, so everyone was able to be very spread out from one another.

While the shorter flight between Dallas and Kansas City announced that they wouldn’t be offering an in-flight beverage service, you can hardly tell that to people on a 10-hour international flight. Flight attendants came around with drinks and hot meals in the first hour of the flight — all food was individually wrapped and came with a cleansing towelette for your hands. After that, though, you had to call the flight attendants individually if you needed something. They came around again during the last hour with another meal and drinks.

Except while eating or drinking, everyone kept their masks on, which made me feel about as safe as possible. When I boarded the plane, I was armed with hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes, intending to wipe everything down immediately… but you realize pretty quickly that’s easier said than done. Just the process of traveling requires you to touch so many things that it’s nearly impossible to sanitize everything first, but I trusted that the plane was being thoroughly cleaned and I did my best with my hand sanitizer and not touching my face.

Before landing, we were reminded to fill out the Health & Safety forms we’d received in Madrid. The form asked about our travel history, coronavirus exposure, and possible symptoms.

Immigration and Layover

When it was time to get off the plane, they let us go in groups of 10, so as not to overwhelm the health screeners who were waiting to sign off on our forms. The flight attendants told us that the screeners might take our temperatures, but the young guy who quickly reviewed my form didn’t take mine.

As we landed, I remembered to re-download the Mobile Passport App in anticipation of the lines at Customs and Immigration. But… there was no line. And the immigration agent didn’t even take my phone to look at my customs form. From there, I had to pick up my bags again and take them to bag re-check, and fortunately for me, there were plenty of luggage carts.

Then, I left the secure area and got my first taste of Coronavirus America.

The Dallas airport had completely different vibes than the airport in Madrid. Having spent a lot of time in a lot of different airports in pre-COVID times, the Dallas airport felt exactly the same. Except for the masks, which I would say about 99% of people were wearing. (I’m not sure if they were required or not, but it was good to see.)

There were lots of families who had clearly just returned from vacation in Florida and lots of other leisure travelers. The flight arrivals and departure boards were at full capacity. All gift shops and restaurants were open. (Though it was nearly impossible to find a staffed customer service desk.) Whereas flights to and from Madrid were restricted to essential travel only, Dallas seemed to be business as usual.

I ended up switching to an earlier flight from Dallas to Kansas City, since the customs and immigration process took much less time than normal. And the plane from Dallas to Kansas City ended up being nearly full, but I still felt pretty safe since the flight was so short and everyone had masks.

Final Thoughts on Traveling During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Flying internationally is always a bit stressful, and doubly so when you’re making a trans-Atlantic move. Add the coronavirus pandemic, which I’d felt fairly insulated from in Spain recently, and I truly had no idea what to expect.

In the end, it was about what I expected. I read up on the new traveler requirements and knew that all passengers would be required to wear masks, and knowing that the flight wouldn’t even be close to full made me feel more relaxed. While of course I still don’t recommend traveling unless it’s an extenuating circumstance, I think international travel is being handled in the best possible way right now.

Three days after returning home, I went to get a free COVID test from a local Urgent Care in my hometown. I got my results back a week later — negative — and two weeks after traveling I can still say I’ve had no symptoms. So it seems like, in the end, my trip was a success.

 

What else do you want to know about traveling — internationally or domestically — during the coronavirus pandemic? Let me know in the comments!

-Cathy