For anyone curious about a recent flight experience -->

Flew back to London on Monday night and If it weren't for a near-empty flight, I don't know that I would have felt comfortable flying. Short thread:

In Newark, near total ghost town. 15 total flights between 6pm and midnight at United terminal. The two blue screens on the right are usually filled to the max. Near-universal mask wearing, although plenty of noses not covered.

I'm guessing because it was an international flight, the plane was about 15% capacity. Only people sitting together seemed to be families, otherwise, everyone basically had a row to themselves. One guy got reprimanded for not wearing his mask.

At Heathrow, two interesting points:

(1) Four(?) months into the pandemic, they are 'trialing' temperature checks upon getting to immigration but it wasn't clear how / where, just signs saying so

(2) The health screening form that UK Visas and Immigration mandated as part of the unenforceable 14-day quarantine is a mess. In Newark, the United gate staff printed pieces of paper with the link and directed people to 'download the app' (it's a webform)....

...and said it was only for 'US Citizens' until a passenger corrected the gate agent who then got it wrong again and said it was only for 'US & British citizens' (it's for everyone). And then once at Heathrow, I believe my immigration officer gave it a cursory glance at best...

Overall, there were more precautions being taken when I landed at Newark in March than at Heathrow in June. I'm not sure I would feel comfortable getting on a FULL plane even when it's declared 'safe' to do so. Correct mask wearing is the biggest obstacle. It's not a chin guard!!