When will you fly again?

With airline stocks down big from their all-time highs, I'm curious when will people start flying again.  Time to invest soon or not?

Hard Pass. Warren Buffet recently sold his position in airlines.

Don't you guys miss going on vacations?  I'll fly now, aircraft are at less than half capacity, seems safe enough to me. 

In 6 months if I'm rubbing elbows with a guy who has a runny nose and a cough... meh, not so sure.

Now is too early to fly for me.

The end of stay-at-homes orders doesn't mean COVID isn't a problem. It just means they have room for me at the ICU.

I'm not too worried about a short flight... more worried about the destination and if they have safety protocols in place and restaurants are open because eating out is part of vacation.

Yeah I need a teeth cleaning coming up soon. Going to get one from family before they open up their practice.

I think if you choose to fly in the near future out of the country and then there's a second lock down or lock down of the borders, that would suck since you wouldn't be able to get your family back home.

Or if there is a large cluster of an outbreak where you went on vaca in or out of the US and they won't let you leave the area, IE if NYC or HK got out of control they wouldn't let you in or out until they could control the outbreak. 

I wouldn't fly in the near future, b/c we can't predict what's going to happen, and that uncertainty isn't worth the risk.  It could be the airline you flown on stops flying, goes bankrupt, strike, etc. or Trump says/does something out of left field, this is not the time I'd want to be stranded somewhere after a relaxing vaca, won't be relaxing if something happens.  But flights are cheap, so I'm sure some people are going.  I mean the cruise lines still have some set to go in the near future, their risk tolerance is higher than mine for a 1-2 week vaca. 

I'd do a staycation or drive for a getaway.

Since there will not be any buffets in the foreseeable future, I guess Vegas is out.

All you can eat buffets will simply turn into all you can eat dining, where you order from the menu.  Japanese conveyor belt sushi like system is one possible alternative, where you order from touch pad and your dish is delivered to your table.

On the plus side, you don't have to deal with jerks who hog up the buffet line to get that Alaskan crab legs or half baked lobster.

Going back to the topic, I think leisure destination flights and cruises will be back in operation with deep discounts for sociopathic bargain hunters.  Many years ago after a terrorist attack in Egypt, some associates went there for vacation.  They enjoyed deep discounts, enhanced security, and had the resort & wait staff all to themselves because nobody else was there.  When they went to the Pyramids they had an armed escort.

My wife and I were talking about summer plans today.  Usually our calendar is booked up with camps for the kids, and some vacations for our family.  Since most of that is cancelled now, maybe we should just rent a shack on the beach in Costa Rica and shelter-in-place there for the summer.

irvinehomeowner said:

Since there will not be any buffets in the foreseeable future, I guess Vegas is out.

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I found some rare footage of IHO on vacation...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jLgn7Kz4Us

irvinehomeowner said:

Since there will not be any buffets in the foreseeable future, I guess Vegas is out.

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I ate at Souplantation the day before the shutdown.  So far, no COVID :|

momopi said:

All you can eat buffets will simply turn into all you can eat dining, where you order from the menu.  Japanese conveyor belt sushi like system is one possible alternative, where you order from touch pad and your dish is delivered to your table.

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Yeah, sort of like KBBQ. Tomikawa in Cypress Village used to have a AYCE option like this where you just ordered different dishes.

Maybe I can go back to Vegas, Wicked Spoon already had theirs set up with individual servings.

I really hope that KBBQ restaurants don't go away.

Actually All-That-BBQ is going through a remodel. Using this downtime, when you come in next time, it wil be a new experience. New flooring and decors is going in.

We were in the mood for koja kitchen for dinner today and checked their website and saw it was closed while the shelter in place orders are in effect. I?m surprised they were not doing takeout.

The flights are so empty, I think flying now is safer than the grocery store. Once the flights get back, you might as well be on a cruise.  Six feet distance is essentially two people per row of seats.  Not two per side  aisle, one per side  aisle with rows alternating window, aisle and opposite on the other side.

Can't really see plane surviving flying 70 people per flight.  And I suspect most people going to be uncomfortable right now and near future seeing every row with two people in it.

A couple weeks ago, I saw video of a flight from NY to NC I think. By JWA standards that flight was completely empty, the attendent was basically saying this is nuts, but the flight was about two people per row.

It may sound elitist, but I'm hoping air travel becomes relatively expensive for a number of reasons. Yes, I won't be able to fly as often as I'd want in a world like this, but in some ways changes might prove beneficial:

1) Less atmospheric pollution. Look at pre Pandemic flight numbers x gallons of jet fuel burned. Would reducing that number by 70 percent be a good or a bad thing?

2) A shift back to trains and ships as mass transit. Quaint, time consuming, but reasonably energy efficient compared to jet travel.

3) Business travel reduction, relying on teleconference and other tech. - we're seeing the efficiencies of this now, aren't we?

I wouldn't mind paying $200-$300 for an open middle seat. Not just for the health and safety reasons, but also because air travel has become a terrible experience. Anyone who's gone on a flight recently while enjoying a spacious 2mm gap between you and the fellow traveller next to you loudly yaking on their cell phone as they put their bare feet on the headrest in front of them can attest. Blegh... I'd rather walk to Hawaii than go through that again!

Yes, huge disruptions would have to take place in a world where all 350 seat aircraft can only book 175 seats. In the long run that might not be a bad thing.

My .02c

Friday, Newark to SFO.  Guy in front a Doctor that spent the last two weeks in NY treating covid in the hospitals. 25 others traveling with him.