San Francisco International Airport is out with a list of recommendations for those who are planning to fly this holiday season.
Chief among them is: don’t.
“You’ve got local health orders in the Bay Area, you’ve got State of California health orders that are actually recommending against travel, recommending that the safest way to spend this holiday season is to spend it at home,” said SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel.
Most people are heeding the warnings, with passenger levels at only 25% of what they were last November.
“Nothing really to indicate that that number’s going to change much in the coming weeks,” said Yakel.
It is not a position that Yakel has ever been in ahead of the busy holiday travel season.
But for those who are planning to use the airport this season, SFO officials have implemented a slate of new safety measures including increased hand sanitizer stations and rapid testing for those traveling to Hawaii.
“We’re also testing the use of UV technology for disinfection. We’re testing out a system that uses ultraviolet light to kill germs on handrails of escalators in the international terminal,” said Yakel. “We also have what we call ambassadors that roam all of our airport terminals to help ensure that people are complying with those mask requirements. And then we’ve really reconfigured the airport to allow for physical distancing – not too hard these days.”
And with more local officials implementing travel restrictions and quarantine guidelines across the country, Yakel says you should be sure to check the local rules before you book a trip.