OT: - Covid-19 air travel | The Boneyard

OT: Covid-19 air travel

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Hi, the in-laws (mid 80s) are in San Diego & both want to come to East Coast (Boston airport) to visit us in New Hampshire & ride out Covid-19 with us, but they are afraid to get on regular airplane to travel. They don't want to catch Covid-19. I think planes filter the air, but it is the waiting in lines at the airport, getting onto & off the planes, etc that has most possibility of people/disease contact for them.
Is some kind of charter/private air flight an option? I don't know anything about that- has anyone ever travelled that way across country? What would approximate cost be for round trip (return flight several months apart)? Do you avoid the lines at check-in and security somehow? My in-laws are not poor, but if this costs $20,000 (wild guess) each round trip, they might have to ride out Covid in San Diego.
 
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United first class leaving San Diego on August 10 round trip first class 976
 
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A good middle ground option could be flying JetBlue Mint. Certainly fewer people in business class, get a personal "suite" with doors and lie-flat seats, priority boarding. It's not that expensive either, one way red-eye on August 9th at $460
 

cohenzone

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Do the work and go to any airline website and u can figure the costc things could be worse then being quaretined in San Diego
Oddly, we in CT have had an MD in a San Diego cancer clinic whom we referred to about some experimental possibilities for my wife’s rare cancer instead of chemo. Aside from the fact that the treatment is at least as iffy as chemo, the virus totally affects flying decisions including the airport environment. I’ve thought about charter, but are likely to keep chemo for now which worked at one point. The virus screws up a lot of normal decisions.
 
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Tell them to carry rubbing alcohol for the trip and clean their hands after they touch anything not wiped down. Also proper filtered face masks make a huge difference, N95 at least.
 
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Business class. Airports and waiting areas have tons of room and high ceilings- lots of space, I would think on business the risk is not that bad. No guarantees even with a trip to the supermarket.
 
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Hi, the in-laws (mid 80s) are in San Diego & both want to come to East Coast (Boston airport) to visit us in New Hampshire & ride out Covid-19 with us, but they are afraid to get on regular airplane to travel. They don't want to catch Covid-19. I think planes filter the air, but it is the waiting in lines at the airport, getting onto & off the planes, etc that has most possibility of people/disease contact for them.
Is some kind of charter/private air flight an option? I don't know anything about that- has anyone ever travelled that way across country? What would approximate cost be for round trip (return flight several months apart)? Do you avoid the lines at check-in and security somehow? My in-laws are not poor, but if this costs $20,000 (wild guess) each round trip, they might have to ride out Covid in San Diego.

A couple of thoughts:

Flying private - if you download the XO Jet app - you can look at crowdfunded flights. They do have options from LA to Boston - but I would imagine that isn't such a popular route and would be hard to fill a plane. As a real world example though - there are flights you could take this Thursday or Friday from LA to NY private for under $4K a seat (assuming they fill up enough seats). I've hopped on crowdfunded flights like this before - great stuff - you just have to be flexible a little bit as to when and you have to fly out of the key airports. And you don't have to be a member - so you could get back and forth for under $20K total for the two of them.

That being said...

I've flown a little already and I will say this:

- it is safer than you would think it is
- the airports and security are pretty dead right now
- if you do first class you are pretty isolated

I would fly them first class out of LAX to Boston. There may be options out of SD, but many of the direct flights have been killed do to lack of demand. Even ones that I've booked direct often get rebooked to connecting flights if they can't fill them.
 
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I know someone who owns a private jet that seats 10 people. He's offered it to me at about cost, which is supposedly $4000 an hour plus fuel and landing fees. So I don't think you could do a one way trip for $20,000 or less.

You can call a few places and check. XO Jet, as someone mentioned. EvoJets is another where you can request a quote on-line if you want to check the general cost. Stratos is another. There are a bunch if you do a Google search.
 

HuskyHawk

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I was supposed to visit my parents who rented a house in the NC mountains. Cancelled because I can’t trust that my family and I won’t get the virus, then spend 5 days in a house with my mom and dad. And that’s just Providence to Charlotte. Didn’t feel it was worth the risk right now.
 
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I know someone who owns a private jet that seats 10 people. He's offered it to me at about cost, which is supposedly $4000 an hour plus fuel and landing fees. So I don't think you could do a one way trip for $20,000 or less.

You can call a few places and check. XO Jet, as someone mentioned. EvoJets is another where you can request a quote on-line if you want to check the general cost. Stratos is another. There are a bunch if you do a Google search.

Right - only way is on a shared charter to make it affordable. About $4,000/hour in operating costs sounds right.
 
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Another option is finding a flight that's very empty, calling the airline ahead and asking if they could receive any kind of special boarding/deplaning options to reduce wait times. For instance, ask if they could wait and deplane last or get on the plane early.

Planes do use HEPA filters and cycle the air quick which makes it much less likely you'll catch anything without being in direct contact with someone.
 
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Overall I think flying is fairly safe - especially if you go first class. But all you need is a sick person near you and not much you can do.
 
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My mother-in-law (who is 75) went to Indiana (with a stop both ways) to see my son. BDL - CHA - EVV and then EVV - ORD - BDL on the way back. No issues - even though the planes were pretty full both ways. She got back on the 10th and tested negative a week later.
 

temery

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Hi, the in-laws (mid 80s) are in San Diego & both want to come to East Coast (Boston airport) to visit us in New Hampshire & ride out Covid-19 with us, but they are afraid to get on regular airplane to travel. They don't want to catch Covid-19. I think planes filter the air, but it is the waiting in lines at the airport, getting onto & off the planes, etc that has most possibility of people/disease contact for them.
Is some kind of charter/private air flight an option? I don't know anything about that- has anyone ever travelled that way across country? What would approximate cost be for round trip (return flight several months apart)? Do you avoid the lines at check-in and security somehow? My in-laws are not poor, but if this costs $20,000 (wild guess) each round trip, they might have to ride out Covid in San Diego.

Rent an RV.

 
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Planning on driving to Florida this winter a couple times.
 
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My wife and I drove to Connecticut from Florida just when Covid cases were trending up in Florida in mid-June. There was a death in her family so driving was the best option. I was afraid that I would not be able to get a room in a hotel but this was not an issue. I flew home a few days later and she drove back a few weeks later with her sister in mid-July. She had issues trying to stay in a motel outside of Charlotte on her way back even though I had just made reservations for her 15 minutes before. I guess they didn't like the Florida plates even though she was coming from Connecticut where case rate is low.

Has anyone else had issues with being refused a room during this pandemic? I will not be traveling for a while until Florida trends much lower.
 
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I haven't had any issues with getting a room. I went back and forth by car to Indiana early July. Stayed in PA on the way down and OH on the way back. CT was really the only state that forbid people from staying in hotels for leisure during the lockdown. But they killed that during phase 2.

When my wife flew back from Indiana last Friday (actually from Nashville - they drove down) - they didn't do anything at the airport - no forms, no nothing (at EWR). But I was afraid that somehow that the CT Gov't would find out so I went online and filled out the quarantine form for her - didn't want to get fined.

I had to stay in NYC and NJ a couple of times - even back in May/June - no issues.
 
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The hotels are sterilizing beyond belief, leaving rooms sit for 72 hours. I would have no fear of a hotel. Restaurant, different story.
 
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Today I spoke to the person I know who owns a private jet. To charter the plane they charge $5400 an hour plus landing fees (fuel is included in that). It's 6 hours from San Diego to Hanscom (Bedford, MA).

But here's the kicker. The plane is in Massachusetts. If someone charters it somewhere and they can't find a charter to come back to Massachusetts then you pay for the hours to get the plane back home. So if you charter the plane from CA to MA and the plane can't get someone to charter the plane back to CA then you just paid for 12 hours of flying at $5400 per hour. Very cost prohibitive.
 

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