On a wing and a prayer in 2020

Last week I boarded a commercial airliner for the first time since December 2019, a direct flight from Spokane to Phoenix to visit my daughter and celebrate her birthday a few days early. I read and watch the news so I felt prepared for the changes in the travel industry. Except that I wasn’t.

For years when I’ve gone off on my jaunts to find sun I park in the economy/north lot at GEG, always near the K3 post so I never have to remember where I parked when I return. For years. Except last Thursday when I arrived to discover that huge lot barricaded and empty. The auxiliary economy lot was similarly closed.

Now all parking is consolidated near the parking structure and there are no longer shuttle buses to transport passengers and their luggage to the terminals. It occurred to me that schelping my carry-on rollerboard a fair distance through a parking lot in September is inconvenient but once it’s cold and snowy it will be a real challenge.

The upside of the downside of air travel is that with so few people actually traveling, moving through security screening is a breeze. The downside is so many people once employed by the airports now aren’t.

The upside of so few people traveling is that neither my flight to Phoenix nor the one back home were full. The downside is that it will take years for the airline industry to recover financially.

I’ve always been an observer, a people watcher. I’ve enjoyed the hustle and bustle of large airports across the country and in other countries. But now that masks are mandatory in the terminals and onboard all flights, peoples’ faces are obscured. There seems much less joy in the sea of traveling humanity.

At the gate area I smiled at a fussy baby and realized he had no idea I was smiling. Neither did his mother who was becoming stressed at his fussing.

There’s much I miss in 2020, and faces just might be at the top of the list. There’s a connection to fellow humans as we pass through life that requires more than just eyes above a mask. I miss that.

I’m grateful for the chance to see my daughter, meet her beau and spend time lounging at the pool in triple-digit temperatures but I didn’t love the reality of this COVID-era air travel.

A poll of my Facebook village who have traveled by air in the COVID era produced some interesting observations. Lisa Hunt flies weekly for work, commuting between Spokane and Seattle. “It was so weird for a while, only 6-8 people on my flights.”

Lisa Seher, “We flew to Salt Lake (on Delta) in August for a bridal market. Easy and no stress. Love that they loaded back to front. Everyone was very polite and masked.”

Kathy Prosser’s son, Joey Schoener, flies between Spokane and Alaska twice a month for his job and has since the beginning of COVID. She said his flights have been full all along and he needs to test negative every time he returns to Alaska, testing within three days of flying.

Kathy Hlebichuk observed, “We have had to do three trips to Houston since the beginning of August. We traveled with United as they have the best flight times. They don’t space but they do sanitize before we board and hand you a very strong alcohol wipe upon boarding. They bring you a baggie with a small bottle of water, snacks and another wipe. Must be masked the whole time. There were “mask police” that would catch folks that slid the mask below their noses! Definitely not like before, but tolerable.”

Kari Bertram: “I fly every week for work, since mid-May. Flights are about 50% full, same with airports. I have to say I’ve enjoyed the smaller crowds at the airports and almost always having the row to myself.”

Terrie Richards: “Thumbs up! Two separate trips. Two different airlines. Masks, spacing, controlled count boarding, middle seats empty, was asked to stay seated until your row to get up and disembark”

Cindy Hval brought up a point I hadn’t thought about as far as connecting flights. “Flew Alaska to Ohio in March, June and leaving again in three weeks. Every middle seat empty, everyone masks up and socially distances. However, the delays due to poor ticket sales are horrendous, particularly in SeaTac. In June we had a 4-hour layover on the way to Columbus and a 5-hour layover on the way back. Of course, that's not what our tickets said when we purchased them.”

Lori Dixon: “Our daughter just came home from England. Flight from London to SFO had 15 people on it. She said the airport was so quiet is was a little spooky. No line at customs.”

The takeaway would be to expect the unexpected and pack plenty of patience if you’re planning to fly the friendly skies any time soon!

Happy Birthday on the last day of September to our youngest daughter, Sarah Polk Bluff, who shares the date with Steve Griffitts, Chickie Albright, Debra Raymer, Don Schmitt, Jeff Baltzell, Wilma Mort, Dan Grimmett, Valerie Mesenbrink, Brett Hollenbeck, Ann Siebert, Liz Arakelian and Donna Cooper. Oct. 1 birthdays belong to Casey Irgens, Jill Gardner and Kathi Southland.

On Friday Wendy Medlock, Jack Sjostrom, Dana Kinsey, Rebecca Armstrong, Millie Eylar, Linda Harris, Renee` Mullan, Karla Derton and David Tabakman are celebrating another trip around the sun. Andy Stidham, Dave Bobbitt, Dave Priano, Madison Morrow, Darcy Johnson, Shylo Deubner, Meilee Anderson and Jeff McLean mark their birthdays on Oct. 3.

Sunday celebrants are Mary Wolfinger, Jada Olson, Michael Hillman, Barbara Lovett, Teri Grubbs, Valerie Queen, Ami Manning, John Beebe, Mike Bryan, Tommy Lynn and Nicole Sobelman and on Monday Jan Lindquist, Pat Riley, Amber Butler, Margie Basaraba, Jonalyn Clayton, Debbie McEnespy, David Kamka, Joe Eatherton, Steve Staaben and Tim Turrell will blow out their candles. An Oct. 6 birthday shout-out to Gary Marian, Brooke Miller, Rochelle Seher, Katrina Slater, Kyle Messier, Kate Bennett and Ricky Blaski.

Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.