Contributed by Carmen Summerfield
We know how the “bug” has temporarily changed our lifestyle here in Alaska, but how has it temporarily changed the world of air travel? I was actually pleased to be assigned a short trip to Japan, as I was getting “cabin fever” after these days of staying home. I thought it might be interesting to share a few “bits and pieces” of that trip to Japan…
Friday, May 1st (the feast day of St. Amator), around 3pm in Alaska. I leave home and drive to Anchorage, where I’ll fly (as a passenger) to Seattle to where I will start my scheduled trip to Japan tomorrow. Both terminals were almost empty, and those few passengers all had masks. Only a few food vendors were operating in either terminal, so bring your own snacks!
Saturday, May 2nd (the feast day of St. Athanasius), around noon in Seattle. I report to flight operations and start my trip on an Airbus 330. This is a large plane which normally holds around 300 passengers, but on this trip we only filled about 85 seats with revenue passengers. As per the “new norm”, all the passengers (and all the crew) were wearing masks. Just imagine wearing that mask for 10 hours… Makes our short visits to the grocery wearing a mask seem almost pleasant, doesn’t it?
Sunday, May 3rd (Constitution Memorial Day in Japan), around 2pm in Tokyo. Remember, we gained a day by crossing the international dateline! The terminal at Haneda (Tokyo) was very quiet, as well as the streets in downtown Tokyo. Quite a change from the normally frantic congestion of downtown.
We normally have a 24 hour “layover” to rest after a long flight, and stay at a large hotel in downtown Tokyo. The hotel was unusually quiet, with bookings way down. So the staff was unusually happy to see us!
I normally walk around in the downtown area during my layover, but the Japanese were asked to “stay in”, so I remained in the hotel for the duration of the layover in solidarity (no downtown sightseeing this trip!).
Monday, May 4th (Greenery Day in Japan), around 2pm in Tokyo. Departed Tokyo flying back to Seattle, and we only had about 90 revenue passengers. The airline assigns seating to provide extra space between passengers (so everyone had plenty of “stretch-out” room). The 10-hour flight back was uneventful (just the way I like it!), but I still had to wear that *#^@ mask the entire time.
Monday, May 4th, 10am in Seattle. We “lose a day” on the return flight, arriving the same calendar day (although after a 10-hour flight, it feels like it’s several days later). The Seattle terminal was very quiet, but I only stayed there an hour or so as I waited for my return flight to Alaska.
At Anchorage, as we taxied in, I was surprised to see so many freighter aircraft from all over the world (much more than a month ago), with a gaggle of Boeing 747 freighters, and even four Russian Antonov An-124 freighters. Must be all that “stay-at-home” shopping!
Now I’m staying home for 2 weeks in a self-quarantine mode to ensure I didn’t “pick-up any bugs”. But the good news is that I don’t have to wear a mask at home!
And as always, keep-calm and stay safe… Summer is just around the corner!
