I’ve flown twice on JetBlue to New York in the last 4 months since getting vaccinated. One was an unexpected trip and the other was planned. Both were interrupted by the industries labor shortage.

I was reminded how different travel is and will be in the near future.

I hope this post gives a bit more insight into air travel during COVID-19. I provide highlighted tips throughout for folks who are thinking about flying in the US again. This is what you might be in store for, including what’s really happening with COVID-19 safety procedures and the airline industry as a whole.

Vaccinated Travel

Back in April, it had been 3 weeks since my first vaccination shot when I got a call that required immediate travel to New York. Without revealing too much, a family member was in serious medical condition at a hospital in NY and a doctor friend of mine told me I needed to be there. It was a scary moment—I didn’t know if I would see my family member live through it. The good news is they did live and I made it to New York to support my family through the moment.

The downside is that the process getting there was horrific.

TIP: Get vaccinated. Get vaccinated. Get vaccinated. For me, flying vaccinated is the most important thing I can do for my health and others. There was no way I would risk the health of the people I care about at my destination.

First, I needed to get my second vaccine shot. There were no and are still are no mandates on being vaccinated to travel. But there was no way I was going to travel without my second shot. Although I would still need time for the antibodies to fully build in my body after the second shot, I didn’t want to miss the shot I had scheduled and go without it entirely.

Luckily, I was able to bump up my shot date by a couple of days and still be in the three week recommended window. I booked my flight and scheduled my shot for a few hours before takeoff.

COVID-19 Safety

The Federal Aviation Administration has a mask mandate in place for all Unites States air travelers. From the time you step on the premises of the airport to the time you leave, you are required to wear a mask.

At FLL airport in April, there were a ton of people in the airport. Most people around me were wearing masks. Not everyone wore them properly (over their noses and mouths) but people pretty much did not mess with a government mandate and took it seriously.

TIP: Wear two masks. Especially because of the highly infectious Delta variant going around this summer, I recommend wearing two masks and having extras packed in your personal item/carry-on just in case.

Airport restrooms seem to have invested in more no-touch technology. Not every restroom has it but there now seems to be more no touch options in more of the bathrooms at airports. Some even make the water, soap, and air dispensers all in one spot so you don’t have to move all over the restroom to find or wait for what you need.

TIP: Bring along and wear gloves in restrooms. Bring rubber gloves and wear them into the restroom, remove and dispose of them before washing your hands and exiting. Also, bring your own hand sanitizer with you for use outside the restroom. Both gloves and hand sanitizer also come in handy for using the restroom on board your flight.

Signage around the airport still recommends physical distancing. Seats have stickers suggesting to leave that chair empty between others. However, I rarely saw people following physical distancing standards. These are recommendations that are not enforced or really followed at all (at least not at FLL).

TIP: Find space to physically distance on your own. Physically distance as much as you can. I found a quiet side hallway to sit in to keep away from the main areas of people. I did this in particular the first time I was at the airport in April since I had only just received the 2nd vaccine shot that day. I also intentionally picked the corner seat of an airport bar to discourage people sitting close to me.

On board the flight, physical distancing is impossible. Airlines are no longer keeping the middle seat open. Especially recently, demand for travel by air has gone up at a faster rate than the industry can keep up. The result has been extremely full flights.

The mask mandate continues on board but people still need to eat and drink. Airlines have to allow people to remove their mask when eating and drinking but they do expect masks at all other times.

People seem to follow this protocol. But there are definitely some who “forget” to put it back on after they sip their cocktail. Flight attendants do their best to gently remind passengers so you don’t have to.

TIP: Bring disinfectant wipes. No don’t bring the whole box. A plastic, sealable baggie with 5-10 wipes in it is more than enough. I used them to wipe down my seat, seatbelt, tray table, arm rests, and screen. Maybe this was a bit “extra” but it gave me such piece of mind not wondering how good of a cleaning job the crew did before I boarded.

Flight Delays

The airline industry has struggled to keep up with the sudden high demand for air travel. As with many industries right now, there seems to be a serious labor shortage. The result is delays and cancellations across every airline all over the country.

I arrived to the gate for my flight in April at 6:30pm. The flight was schedule for 7:30pm. About 20 minutes after I arrived the flight delayed until 11:45pm. This is when I went to that little hallway to chill away from people. I tried calling JetBlue to see if I could change my flight, but the wait time was over 1.5 hours. So I decided to just wait.

This same flight ended up being delayed another 2 hours, then another 2 hours, then another 2 hours….and so on. Finally, after 9am, we were able to board the flight. Another 2 hours waiting on the tarmac meant we didn’t actually leave for NY until we were 15+ hours out from our original departure time.

The cause was multifaceted but the main culprit of the delay is the airline labor shortage. Despite a $54 billion bailout with a restriction against furloughing workers, airlines cut costs at the height of the pandemic by encouraging early retirements, voluntary furloughs, leaves of absence, and buyouts. With the recent and sudden uptick in travel demand, airlines are struggling to hire back and train the necessary workers to meet demand.

New pilots take 2-3 years to train. Former pilots also need a retraining period before they can fly like they did pre-pandemic.

On the night of my flight in April, there was bad weather in the area that interrupted many flights. This happens all the time, even before COVID-19. But the labor shortage now limits an airlines options. The few available crews get stranded in different cities and then reassigned to other routes.

What kept happening to our flight is a pilot would get reassigned to our flight but then timed out. Pilots get timed out if they go beyond 16 hours on the clock. Nobody wants a tired pilot at the helm. But this kept happening with our flight. Either a pilot would time out before arrival or they couldn’t get a full crew in place before a pilot would time out. So they kept delaying and delaying, waiting for a pilot and a full crew to become available at the same time.

This was the worst delay/airport experience I’ve ever had! Not only was it an extremely long wait time, I was also experiencing some post-vaccine flu-like symptoms. The delay was overnight—so all food options closed down. And I was still not sure the condition of my family member as I waited.

TIP: Don’t book late night flights. This flight taught me to try not to book my flight for late at night. If delayed, everything will close down in the meantime. If you must book a late night flight, at least come to the airport with a full belly, bring food with you, or buy food as soon as you arrive to the airport before things close—just in case!

I managed to stay relatively calm despite other passengers who started complaining to the gate agents by 2am. By 6am, the passengers were downright verbally abusive toward the agents—which is dumb because gate agents don’t make the call to cancel a flight. There was literally nothing anybody could do. But I understand why everyone was upset. JetBlue should have just cancelled the flight. Our only option was to keep waiting in the hopes the flight would finally board.

I already knew we were all about to get seriously compensated for this. So I just tried to relax. Jetblue’s Bill of Rights for 2021 outlines their compensation table. For over 6+ hour delays, they offer $200 credit. I received $400 in JetBlue Travel Bank Credit because the delay was over 15 hours!

Flight Cancellations

I used the credit to book a JetBlue flight home and also to book my next flight for August. That flight to NY was scheduled for this past Sunday and, once again, I did not have great luck. The flight was cancelled about 30 minutes before boarding.

I was stuck at FLL again and I needed to get a flight out that day if I could. I got on a reticketing line that was a 3 hour wait because everyone from my flight was on it.

The wait time to speak to a Jetblue agent over the phone was nearly 5 hours! So the in-person wait made sense. As I waited, I searched google flights for alternative options out of FLL to the NY area. I managed to find one with Jetblue for almost $400 leaving 8 hours later and going to CT. I was out of travel bank credit but figured I would get reimbursed later, so I snatched it up. If I was going to get out of FL that night, I had to jump on these flights because everyone else on the line was booking them, too.

I stayed on the line so I could still talk to an agent to work out compensation. Allyson was my agent and she was really understanding and compassionate when speaking to me. I asked her why the flight was delayed and she didn’t know but assumed, like me, that it was because a pilot timed out. Perhaps Jetblue learned from our flight in April not to keep delaying or it would cost the airline more!

TIP: Don’t wait to rebook. Allyson was glad I already found a flight because the next available was not until Wednesday! This is why a BIG tip is not to wait. If your flight is cancelled, rebook your own flight online right away—you will most likely get compensated later!

She told me to contact Jetblue corporate at dearjetblue@jetblue.com about the experience so I could get refunded. I uploaded my receipts and explained., I also named Allyson to give her some props for being so great!

So far, I have only received a $50 travel credit for my fight cancellation. I believe this credit was automated and my email has still not been fully reviewed. I have not yet heard back about a refund for the rebooked flight. But I expect to.

TIP: Buy trip insurance especially during these times. As back up, I also bought travel insurance for this flight. When I originally booked my flight, I decided not to take my chances on the current industry. For $17, Allianz Insurance offers up to $250 for trip interruption. It won’t cover my full $400 rebooked flight, but it’s something! If Jetblue doesn’t compensate me, I’ll be so glad to have Allianz.

I’ll write here again to update on what I end up getting back.

Getting The Most Out Of Your Wait

TIP: Ask for lounge access. If your airport has a lounge, I would also ask the ticketing agent for free lounge access. A lounge would be ideal. There’s free food and drink, comfy seats, great Wi-Fi, showers (sometimes), private bathrooms, and usually pretty good views of the runway.

Lounges are usually at big airports and are attached to specific airlines (e.g., Admirals Club is American Airlines’ lounge). FLL doesn’t have lounges but other airports do. When they do—go!

TIP: Get meal vouchers as you wait. If you are stuck in the airport for a while during the day and don’t have access to a lounge, you can go to a ticketing agent, explain your situation, and ask them for meal vouchers.

I’ll admit, I didn’t know meal vouchers were a thing! Allyson, my really nice ticketing agent this past Sunday, told me what she can and cannot do as a ticketing agent. She explained that meal vouchers were one thing she could do and I was like, “Well THAT would be great." I asked for 2 vouchers since I was stuck for lunch and dinner. She gave me a $10 and a $16 voucher. Not much when a sandwich can cost as much as $15 in the airport—but hey, it’s something.

I decided to be adventurous as I waited. If I can’t travel adventurously, I’m going to eat adventurously. I suppose this wasn’t too daring, but I saw the “Beyond Burger” on 2 separate airport menus and figured it was time to give it a try.

Beyond Burger claims to taste just like meat. This actually made me nervous to try it because the reason I don’t eat beef is I don’t like the taste! Luckily, it did not taste like beef. I really enjoyed this plant-based burger!

TIP: Tell your friends about your delay. You never know who will empathize and generously gift you a drink from an airport bar! I even had friends offer to come pick me up and take me out of the airport for a while, but I mostly discouraged them from inconveniencing themselves like that. Still, it’s a nice option if you have a friend close by who insists!

My friend Dasha was nice enough to Venmo me some money for a drink during my wait. Since my trip to NY was mainly to go to her brother’s wedding, I think she felt especially motivated to make my long wait in the airport a little more entertaining. Thanks, Dasha! :)

TIP: Bring something to read. You never know when you won’t have access to charge your phone and other entertainment devices. Bringing something to read will help.

Waiting on the reticketing line for three hours meant I couldn’t plug my phone in that whole time. I also wasted a lot of battery searching for flights. I was down to 25% when I finally shut my phone off so I’d have enough for when I got up to the desk. In the meantime, I was so glad to have this book to read as I waited!

In Conclusion

FINAL TIP: Relax. Trip interruptions of any kind are annoying and frustrating. We might miss important meetings or events. When they delay you seeing sick family members they are even more distressing. But delays and cancellations are out of our control. There’s nothing we can do except follow the tips in this post to ease the process a little. Know that the airline will likely compensate you in some way. And just chilllllllll.

No matter how upset you get, that won’t change what’s happening. Air travel is unpredictable, even more so during these times. The best thing you can do is go in with an adaptable, go-with-the-flow attitude. Whatever happens, happens. You’ll be able to rebook. You’ll get to your destination eventually. You’ll get your money back soon. Just find a cozy corner to plug your phone in and be thankful we live in the 21st century where we can Netflix and Chill from just about anywhere and at any time as we wait.

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