I’m old enough to remember when plane travel was a fun and exciting event. The flight was right up there with the best highlights of a vacation. It was a party in the sky, where you actually got dressed up. Frank Sinatra even sang about it: Come fly with me, let’s fly, let’s fly away.
In modern times, no one sings about flying, unless it’s the blues. Got any catchy lyrics about shedding shoes, belts, etc. … for a security check? How about being shoehorned into a seat between a couple of Sumo-wrestler-sized passengers? Not fun. But until this year, your risk of dying from a virulent pathogen on a plane was acceptably low.