What It Was Like to Fly London-New York as Soon as It Was Legal

A breeze through quiet airports made up for pre-flight glitches.

Passengers at check-in desks in Terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport, May 17.Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg
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When a family reunion coincided with the resumption of leisure travel from the U.K. after months of lockdown, I took the plunge.

After almost two years without seeing loved ones, the prospect of quarantine and costly Covid tests didn’t faze me. I booked a flight from London Heathrow to New York’s John F. Kennedy airport for May 17, the first day it was legal to fly again.