What’s it like to travel by air in the wake of the coronavirus?

It’s different, awkward and inconvenient.

Earlier this month, I flew to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, on my way to Mitchell, South Dakota, home of my daughter, son-in-law, and my only grandchildren – a grand daughter and a grandson.

You can’t fly to Mitchell because there is no commercial airport. And it’s 670 miles from Tulsa, so driving takes at least 11-12 hours. Because of our work at the Tulsa Beacon, Susan and I couldn’t go at the same time. I booked a flight one week and she booked the identical flight the next week.

My original booking with American Airlines was early Thursday morning with a return in the late afternoon on Sunday. It was basically a 72-hour trip.

Two weeks before the trip, I got an email from American Airlines stating that my flights had been changed. It wasn’t asking me if I wanted to change – it just stated that the flights I had booked were canceled and I had no choice.

My 72-hour visit was turned into a 48-hour trip.

One saving grace was that I could cancel my trip and reschedule without paying an extra fee.

We called American Airlines and explained that they had arbitrarily shortened my trip. After spending an hour waiting for a live person to talk to, we managed to change the flight to Wednesday afternoon to Sunday morning.

I got back those 72 hours.

There was another problem – a five-hour layover in Dallas. We got that fixed, too.

And a week later, we went through the exact same process for Susan’s flight.

I went to Tulsa International Airport about 90 minutes before my flight and it was virtually deserted. After a completely unnecessary pat down by TSA security, I looked for a restaurant but none were open.

I had the foresight to pack a few snacks in my carryon bag. The gate attendant encouraged people to take food and drink on the plane because nothing would be served on the flight.

We were required to wear masks at all times – except when eating or drinking. And the flight attendants routinely told people to put on masks.

That first flight was pretty full. It was a small plane with only three seats in a row. It was so small that I had to bend over to walk down the aisle.

It was a short flight (45 minutes in the air) but we were 20 minutes late getting off. That makes no sense to me because there were almost no other flights leaving Tulsa at the time.

When we landed at DFW, I was at the opposite gate from where my flight to Sioux Falls was scheduled. I had less than 20 minutes to make that flight.

Fortunately, I researched DFW and thought that my quickest way to my gate was on Skylink – a monorail system that circles the airport every nine minutes. After going up an escalator and an elevator, I rushed to my gate just as they announced last call for “passenger Charles Biggs.”

I had wanted to grab a sandwich or a burger but there was absolutely no time to do so.

The next flight was an hour and 45 minutes and no food service. I arrived in Sioux Falls at 8:30 p.m. and none of the restaurants were open.

I had reserved a rental car from Alamo and when I got to the Alamo counter, it was closed. There was a note that said go to the Enterprise counter and I did.

I had reserved a minivan because it was the cheapest option. The clerk was very nice and she asked me if I wanted a different vehicle for the same price. I wound up with a Nissan Kicks, a subcompact crossover SUV. It was perfect for my 70 mile trip to Mitchell.

In Mitchell, I booked a room at the Ramada by Wyndham Convention Center. A day before my trip, I called to tell them I might be late and the phone message said the hotel was closed due to the coronavirus. I checked the website and it said the same thing. I called Ramada and they checked. They said the hotel was reopening on the day of my arrival.

The hotel was disappointing. First, instead of a free hot breakfast, I was given a breakfast bag with a sausage cheese biscuit, a container of fruit, a granola bar and a bottle of water.

And one night, my toilet was stopped up at about 10 p.m. There was only one person on duty and she couldn’t find a plunger. At 11 p.m., I went back to the front desk (the phone in my room wasn’t working, either) and there was a new clerk. I asked him where she was and he said she left because her shift was over at 11 p.m.

Anyway, he found a plunger at the front desk, he fixed the toilet and he fixed the phone.

The day before I left, my electronic hotel keys both didn’t work and I had to get them replaced three times. I won’t go back to that hotel.

The flight back on Sunday left Sioux Falls about 20 minutes late. Again, no food or drink and we had to wear masks. It was a bigger plane and it was pretty full.

We got to DFW with about 20 minutes to spare and the airport was packed. I wanted to grab a sandwich but the lines were too long and I might miss my flight.

The flight to Tulsa was on a big plane – six seats across each aisle and they said it was 85 percent full.

We have scheduled a flight to Tampa, Florida, on Allegiant Airlines in July to celebrate our 38th anniversary and guess what – it has already been changed.

The “new normal” in air travel is anything but normal.