Due to the United Kingdom announcing a controversial move to force almost everyone to self-quarantine on entering the UK on/after June 8th, I traveled back to the UK on June 6th. I was concerned at first, Traveling internationally during coronavirus, after seeing reports of airports, especially big hubs, being very busy. However, I found my travels, while nerve-racking at first, to be less stressful as expected. The cabin attendants were very accomodating with moving customers, ensuring everyone felt safe and were spread apart. I did have to ask to be moved after I had several people sat around me, leaving me feeling uncomfortable, but they moved me without hesitation. While not everyone was wearing masks in the airports, they were on the plane, other than when eating food, I felt this definitely eased peoples nerves. On my first internal flight, on American Airlines, from RDU to ORD, we were given a bag with a bottle of water and pretzels and there was no other in-flight service. ORD airport was not very busy and it was not difficult to find a row of seats to myself. My international flight, from ORD to LHR, felt very similar to a normal international flight, cabin service was pretty much the same, other than the attendants wearing masks, the food was the same and we were given an individual sachet of hand sanitizer. On arrival, Heathrow airport was eerily silent, at times I was the only person walking to the trains leading to central London, my trains from London to York were practically empty as well. I was, however, disappointed with my train journey from London to York. I paid for a first-class ticket and was disappointed to find out there would be no catering service, I was not made aware of this when booking my ticket. I felt duped because that is one of the main perks of paying for first-class, my ticket was then never even checked and an extremely intoxicated person entered the carriage and proceeded to spill alcohol everywhere and throw cans around. While I know it is a difficult time I was made to feel uncomfortable on the train and did complain as I felt my money was extremely wasted. In all, I felt like the airlines did an excellent job of easing passenger anxieties and making people feel safe, I would definitely tell others that my experience flying was good overall.
