International flight with no mask mandate--how to decrease risk?

[Acadie]

Title says it all!

I'm thinking of getting an elastomeric Flo Mask, wearing my glasses, possibly bringing a straw to drink water and protein bars to minimize mask removal.

Any other tips to reduce risk when stuck on a plane for hours, surrounded by maskless wonders? 

[mommyoffive]

When are you going?  Could you get a booster shot before hand? 

Upgraded mask

turn on the air vents by you

Someone say they have wearable air purifiers they wear in airplanes

Where are you going?  Could you upgrade your flight to higher class for more room?   There are some great deals to Europe on P. Economy .

I think your plan of having your mask off as little as possible is the best choice.

 

[TravelingChris]

The problem isn't as much on the airplane as it is in the airports.  So I think you are good.

[MEmama]

We are still extremely Covid conscious but other than wearing our standard KN94 masks, we haven't done anything else special on flights, including no quarantining/isolating on either end. We eat our meals and have drinks on the plane, then just re-mask. We ate in airports on our recent (domestic) flight because there wasn’t any real choice, even though we still haven’t eaten inside a restaurant since February 2020. 
 

FWIW the only times I’ve gotten sick from flying (like a cold after) is when the air vent has been on, so I always turn them off. YMMV of course. I’ll be masking forever and ever on flights. 

[Acadie]

10 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

When are you going?  Could you get a booster shot before hand? 

Upgraded mask

turn on the air vents by you

Someone say they have wearable air purifiers they wear in airplanes

Where are you going?  Could you upgrade your flight to higher class for more room?   There are some great deals to Europe on P. Economy .

I think your plan of having your mask off as little as possible is the best choice.

 

Just got my 4th shot, 5 weeks before departure. I was hoping to hold off until 2 weeks before departure, but dh came home from another international trip and tested positive the following day. So I felt like I should get boosted with Covid in the house.

And it also made clear to both of us that even a recent shot isn't protective against infection, alas.

Interesting that you mention portable air purifiers--I'll definitely look into that! Hoping it might be more afforadable than upgrading tickets for the whole family. I think that would exceed our budget, but at least we're seated together.

[TravelingChris]

You don't need to filter airplane air.  It is filtered every 9 minutes which is better than any other indoor place you go to.

[Acadie]

1 minute ago, MEmama said:

We are still extremely Covid conscious but other than wearing our standard KN94 masks, we haven't done anything else special on flights, including no quarantining/isolating on either end. We eat our meals and have drinks on the plane, then just re-mask. We ate in airports on our recent (domestic) flight because there wasn’t any real choice, even though we still haven’t eaten inside a restaurant since February 2020. 
 

FWIW the only times I’ve gotten sick from flying (like a cold after) is when the air vent has been on, so I always turn them off. YMMV of course. I’ll be masking forever and ever on flights. 

Thanks, it's reassuring to hear you've been okay eating and drinking on flights--I know you are very careful! 

I have been trying to figure out what to do with the vents, so that's good food for thought. 

And I totally agree with you on masks forevermore when flying! 

[Acadie]

5 minutes ago, TravelingChris said:

You don't need to filter airplane air.  It is filtered every 9 minutes which is better than any other indoor place you go to.

The qualify of airplane filtration is reassuring but my understanding is that if someone near you has Covid you can be exposed before the air even goes through the filtration system. So someone several aisles away who is sick may not be a risk, but someone in your row or an adjacent row could be.

Dd19 recently flew domestically and there was a guy next to her who kept coughing and wasn't wearing a mask--ugh! 

Edited June 5, 2022 by Acadie

[TexasProud]

Yeah, I think my mom caught Covid on our airplane trip, though I am not completely sure. She got her 4th booster a little over a week before our trip. She did take her mask off to eat the meal ( We were in 1st class. My first time. The seats cost us just 50 bucks more total and was worth it with my mom and step-dad's mobility issues.) But she put it back on.  Again, I cannot be completely sure, but this was her biggest point of exposure.  My step-dad got it as well.   However, I did not. Again, I went everywhere they went and we wore masks. 

[mommyoffive]

47 minutes ago, MEmama said:

We are still extremely Covid conscious but other than wearing our standard KN94 masks, we haven't done anything else special on flights, including no quarantining/isolating on either end. We eat our meals and have drinks on the plane, then just re-mask. We ate in airports on our recent (domestic) flight because there wasn’t any real choice, even though we still haven’t eaten inside a restaurant since February 2020. 
 

FWIW the only times I’ve gotten sick from flying (like a cold after) is when the air vent has been on, so I always turn them off. YMMV of course. I’ll be masking forever and ever on flights. 

Us too.

[TravelingChris]

51 minutes ago, Acadie said:

Thanks, it's reassuring to hear you've been okay eating and drinking on flights--I know you are very careful! 

I have been trying to figure out what to do with the vents, so that's good food for thought. 

And I totally agree with you on masks forevermore when flying! 

I am going to do masks forever on long flights.  I know that on the last two flights to Europe, I got sick (pre-covid)/

[mathnerd]

4 hours ago, Acadie said:

The qualify of airplane filtration is reassuring but my understanding is that if someone near you has Covid you can be exposed before the air even goes through the filtration system. So someone several aisles away who is sick may not be a risk, but someone in your row or an adjacent row could be.

Dd19 recently flew domestically and there was a guy next to her who kept coughing and wasn't wearing a mask--ugh! 

My friend keeps flying back and forth internationally because of elderly parents abroad needing her help. She says that she wears an N95 mask with a face shield and tries not to use the toilet in the plane if at all possible and never eats but drinks water using a straw. I hope this is useful in some way to you ...

[wathe]

Airplane air filtration is good, but only when the ventilation and filtration systems are running.  Which, as I understand it, is only once the engines have been turned on.  So, not while boarding and deplaning.  This matches my own personal CO2 monitoring data* on flights (6 in the past month) - CO2 spikes to above 2000 while boarding, decreases, then stays steady state while in flight, then spikes again while deplaning.

Boarding and deplaning are the riskiest times for airborne transmission.

Airport air quality was uniformly excellent, with CO2 levels in the 500's to 600's

*note that CO2 levels are a good indicator of ventilation, but do not indicate filtration.

 

[madteaparty]

When I flew internationally in early covid I wore my N95 mask until on the plane and then switched to surgical ones.. I saw several people doing the same.  It’s not what I would do now FWIW

[Farrar]

I think the main thing is not to unmask constantly. Straw and very brief grab a quick bite, yes. But that goes for the airport too. The air is stagnant and so crowded with germs. I have known so many people who were like, I was so careful! But actually, they leisurely ate a long meal or found a "less crowded spot" in the airport and unmasked. Don't.

[madteaparty]

I thought of another thing I did when I flew during peak covid with no vaccines and into countries with mandatory quarantines—nose sprays and gargles. With the help of one poster here, I made iodine sprays and gargles and since then there’s been research backing this up.  Chewing on zinc at high contact points was another thing. 
My kids and I were a sight traveling with my ziplock bag of anti covid tricks. It worked, we never got covid then 💪

Edited June 6, 2022 by madteaparty

[Acadie]

4 hours ago, madteaparty said:

I thought of another thing I did when I flew during peak covid with no vaccines and into countries with mandatory quarantines—nose sprays and gargles. With the help of one poster here, I made iodine sprays and gargles and since then there’s been research backing this up.  Chewing on zinc at high contact points was another thing. 
My kids and I were a sight traveling with my ziplock bag of anti covid tricks. It worked, we never got covid then 💪

I'll look into iodine gargle and zinc! I don't think it would hurt and might help...

[Acadie]

14 hours ago, Farrar said:

I think the main thing is not to unmask constantly. Straw and very brief grab a quick bite, yes. But that goes for the airport too. The air is stagnant and so crowded with germs. I have known so many people who were like, I was so careful! But actually, they leisurely ate a long meal or found a "less crowded spot" in the airport and unmasked. Don't.

ITA! So many people think they're being safe but the devil is in the details. I'm not dining indoors at home now, so drinks and food will be strictly to avoid dehydration and low blood sugar during travel. 

[skimomma]

As someone who is recovering from Covid after an international flight, I agree with others about the airport being the real risk.  I don't know exactly where I got it, obviously, but I masked 100% of the time in the airport and on the plane.  But they had us stacked up on top each other in the boarding holding cell and we also had to ride in very crowded trams through the airport.  And here's the other thing....they did not ask for proof of negative test at either end of our return flight.  I am seriously irritated that I spent $65 per person and the STRESS of waiting for results for the "required" testing that was never asked for.  I would focus on masking and anything preventative you can do to bolster your immune system.

[Acadie]

19 hours ago, skimomma said:

As someone who is recovering from Covid after an international flight, I agree with others about the airport being the real risk.  I don't know exactly where I got it, obviously, but I masked 100% of the time in the airport and on the plane.  But they had us stacked up on top each other in the boarding holding cell and we also had to ride in very crowded trams through the airport.  And here's the other thing....they did not ask for proof of negative test at either end of our return flight.  I am seriously irritated that I spent $65 per person and the STRESS of waiting for results for the "required" testing that was never asked for.  I would focus on masking and anything preventative you can do to bolster your immune system.

I'm so sorry to hear this and hope you're on the mend soon, @skimomma! That's absolutely bonkers that they didn't even check for proof of a negative test. I mean, can't we just use the simple tools we have, like testing and masks?

I'm considering masking and wearing a face shield. With many people unmasked I'll look like a total weirdo but I feel like the risk is high. 

[TravelingChris]

Well everybody is asking the US to stop the testing requirement

[Spryte]

10 minutes ago, TravelingChris said:

Well everybody is asking the US to stop the testing requirement

Who is everybody? 
 

DH hasn’t had to show proof of anything either. 

[Arcadia]

20 hours ago, Acadie said:

ITA! So many people think they're being safe but the devil is in the details. I'm not dining indoors at home now, so drinks and food will be strictly to avoid dehydration and low blood sugar during travel. 

I ate on the plane. However, I could survive on just coffee to avoid dehydration and sugar low since the air stewardess and stewards were offering drinks frequently. I’m able to go without food on my 17hr flight if need be as long as I have coffee (with milk and sugar) or soda alternating with milk. 

3 minutes ago, Acadie said:

 

I'm considering masking and wearing a face shield. With many people unmasked I'll look like a total weirdo but I feel like the risk is high. 

Had my mammogram yesterday and the staff is back to mask and face shield protocol while my county has not reinstate the indoor mask mandate. The last time the staff wore mask and face shield was during the Delta wave.

United Airlines did check for my negative PCR test when I flew back from Asia. The QR code won’t scan on their self check machines so the UA staff would manually check and override the machines for those of us whose QR codes could not be scanned well.
The UA staff at SFO did check my negative PCR test as well when flying out. Whether they check at SFO depends on the destination’s requirements.

The boarding areas were also the crowded area for me. I had an early morning flight back so had a heavy breakfast at a large airport cafeteria that had less than ten customers at any one time. 

[Acadie]

6 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

Had my mammogram yesterday and the staff is back to mask and face shield protocol while my county has not reinstate the indoor mask mandate. The last time the staff wore mask and face shield was during the Delta wave.

United Airlines did check for my negative PCR test when I flew back from Asia. The QR code won’t scan on their self check machines so the UA staff would manually check and override the machines for those of us whose QR codes could not be scanned well.
The UA staff at SFO did check my negative PCR test as well when flying out. Whether they check at SFO depends on the destination’s requirements.

The boarding areas were also the crowded area for me. I had an early morning flight back so had a heavy breakfast at a large airport cafeteria that had less than ten customers at any one time. 

That's really interesting that mammography staff wore face shields. I keep seeing medical staff in surgical masks only! I did notice more people at the grocery store yesterday in high quality masks, though.

Helpful to get confirmation that boarding areas were particularly crowded--I'll try to strategize about that. 

[TCB]

We’re flying to the UK next week. I plan on N95 while boarding and deplaning and then switching to KN95 while air system is on in the plane. I have read that it is helpful to have your air vent blowing down on you full blast. When I’ve flown before I would take a quick drink or a bite and put my mask back on while I chewed etc. 
Not sure what I’ll do in the airport, will probably depend on how crowded. Last time I flew I was able to find a really deserted place to eat quickly.

[TravelingChris]

39 minutes ago, Spryte said:

Who is everybody? 
 

DH hasn’t had to show proof of anything either. 

Both lots of foreign companies and lots of airlines