rockflyertalk

I don’t recall many, if any measures in London for example. I recall hospitals had stricter measures but nothing like what are seeing today. Entire fleets grounded. ALL schools closed. ALL non-essential businesses. The list goes on...

There wasn’t any of that for SARS so despite the comparison medically sitting in a similar category (I’m not a doctor) so I won’t attempt at any medical chat. But I do know that these are measures the world has not seen for possibly 75 years, end of WW2. Even then I couldn’t tell you the measures in place and how they compare to this.

But the comparison to SARS just doesn’t stack up.

Hence why I think there could be adjustments or small measures to how we travel, even if it comes from the Airlines themselves and digital checks before we fly. Who knows but this is a definitely a game changing moment.

rockflyertalk

It seems there are already companies looking at ways to address possible medical checks before flying as reported in Business Traveller.

https://www.businesstraveller.com/bu...h-coronavirus/

bobbytables

My guess is that the security theatre will be extended with a bit of "health theatre" like forehead temperature checks with questionably-accurate[1] handheld devices. Or maybe airports worldwide will gain those thermal imaging cameras that are common in Asia (the ones that, as actually implemented in airports with a moving stream of people, have virtually no chance of accurately detecting elevated body temperature). A good thermal imaging camera, used with a stationary subject, could actually be appropriate for selecting people for additional checks, though.

[1] I get my temperature taken 2-10 times a day by one of these, at the entrance of my apartment building. I've been noting down the temperature each time for the last month. Lowest temperature it measured was 31.5C (I was feeling fine!) and usually it measures around 36C - I'm always waved through even though these are highly unlikely to be correct readings. One time it measured 37.8C, but he just checked again and it read 36.4C immediately afterwards. At first I thought maybe our building just had a faulty one, but we moved to another apartment building two weeks ago and the wild readings continued. Maybe it just contains a random number generator?

atsak

If airlines simply insure every ticket for 2 or 3 dollars for illness, so if people are sick they don't feel like they need to fly (so they don't lose the money or have their vacation/holiday cost more), then the probability they'll fly when sick goes down. If we further actually allow airlines to say sorry you are sick you can't fly, like we do when people are drunk (because they are a danger to those around them in that state), then I think you make a really good attempt at limiting further COVID outbreaks (until there is a vaccine) and whatever the next pandemic is (maybe 100 years from now again hopefully if we can get some of the risky behaviours that increase the probability of new viruses ended. Sure, this isn't going to stop everything, just like sometimes there's a drunk on a plane, but it drastically reduces the risk. We definitely don't want the TSA in charge of this (or CATSA, or your neighbourhood's screening circus), but no reason that we can't have gate agents, check in agents and flight attendants looking out for this and accommodating people appropriately. I've personally stepped off a plane when feeling suddenly unwell; I think we just need to make it easier for people to do it.

Yes, I know, people should be responsible and carry their own insurance . . . but they don't.

bobbytables

I don't think this will work. You can be infectious without symptoms, and that applies to more than one infectious disease, not just the coronavirus that everyone is currently talking about. So you might not even know that you shouldn't fly. Also, people fly even when feeling a little unwell not just because of financial incentives (like not wanting to lose the cost of the ticket), but because they actually want to go to the destination. Unfortunately, if you expect everyone to suddenly act in the collective interest just because they don't have a financial downside to doing so, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed.

:D!

Getting a visa in advance doesn't tell countries where you have been just before you arrive...

I've had to do some health checks in order to get visas for some countries, but these were up to 3 months before I travelled, which seemed to defeat the purpose somewhat.

Of course some countries could impose very onerous requirements, but I suspect those with a large tourism industry will not make it too difficult.

MSPeconomist

For citizens and residents of most countries, very few places have health requirements for an ordinary short-stay tourist or business visa. This greatly add cost and/or inconvenience.

Of course, it's different if one is requesting a work permit, student visa, or other visa potentially leading to long term residence such as a finance/fiancee visa.

atsak

I agree that not everyone will act in the collective interest. But some people will. It's not unlike the social distancing model being used now - not everyone is doing it as requested. Now, there's a lot of social pressure to do so, and I think that's having an impact. But yet some people aren't. Even so, there's a general consensus appearing that the curve is beginning to flatten (in most places) so it looks like if we can get MOST people to act in the collective interest by removing some of the barriers that cause them to not to, we would have a better chance and preventing a repeat of this.

I agree it's not a 100% answer, but the older I get the more I realize (particularly in the last 3 or so years if I may say without straying into OMNI territory) that human behaviour almost never has 100% reliability.

stc

What city is this in?

rockflyertalk

As kindly pointed out in the BA forum By Tobias-UK , this Sky News report has some balanced views about the future of air travel and what health checks we might have to have or what measures we have to endure.

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavir...035?inApp=true

Whilst most of the world is still grounded, it’s challenging to work out what the norm will be but I can foresee major changes already, such as wearing masks throughout the journey, lack of onboard service in order to maintain less interaction or contact.

It will certainly be a different, less exciting place to be for many avid flyers, at least for the rest of 2020.

Beyond that...who knows.

bobbytables

An interesting counterpoint, and a possible looking-glass into the future of countries a bit further behind the pandemic curve, is Vietnam. Domestic air travel has picked up hugely since the lockdown ended ~3 weeks ago, with full A321s multiple times a day between the bigger cities. That's all seats full, no social distancing. The only health checks I've seen are temperature checks at the gate, and they haven't been consistently applied; many times I've gone kerb to plane without any check. Masks are required, but towards the end of the flight many people take them off. In the airport itself some people wear them, some don't. In business class, drinks service was normal (my flights have been too short to know whether food would normally have been supplied). All in all, pretty normal journeys.