Pandemic Travel – Asian Edition

Pandemic Travel – Asian Edition

It appears all Asia-bound flights leave LAX in the late evenings, which would explain the larger crowd compared to when we flew out to Turkey 3 months ago.

Yes, this is a “larger” crowd, which pales in comparison to the pre-Thanksgiving domestic crowd. The key to pandemic traveling is to know when the peak days may occur, and avoid those days like the plague. As a rule, airport foot traffic is usually lighter on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Also yes, that is a lady in full PPE. She is the fourth one I’ve seen – and they are all at the China Airlines gate headed to Taiwan.

However, the larger airport crowd doesn’t translate to a full flight. As the check-in agent handed me my ticket, she informed me that I would have the row to myself. Imagine that, a lie-flat seat on an economy budget. Actually, I’d already known that I would get my own row when I tried to check in online.

Seat map – looks like a lot of us are getting lie-flat seats

Given how restrictive all of Asia is with regard to allowing travelers in (vs. Turkey’s “Come one, come all”), it is no surprise that flights are less than full even after the number of flights have been halved.

All the empty seats around me
Cathay hasn’t skimped on their meals despite the pandemic – still serving hot meals and Häagen Daz ice cream bar.
Whereas meals on Turkish Airlines consisted mostly of cold sandwiches

Here’s to an enjoyable transpacific flight.

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