On a recent rare day off, Taiwanese pilot C.C. Chen (陳建財) engaged in what he described as a “novel experience”: He took a ride on the Taipei MRT rail system.
Whether it be taking public transportation, eating out with friends or getting a dental checkup, the most mundane of activities for most Taiwanese have been almost unthinkable for crew members of domestic airlines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Facing unmatched quarantine requirements, they have been stuck in an unending cycle of work and quarantine for more than two years that has completely disrupted their lives and left them feeling isolated.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
As the world gradually phases out COVID-19 restrictions, crew members are now calling for more humane schedules and the use of testing to replace quarantine measures.
A VICIOUS CYCLE
Quarantine requirements for crew members of domestic airlines have been in place since March 2020, said Pilots Union Taoyuan chairwoman Lee Hsin-yen (李信燕), who since 2009 has been a pilot at EVA Airways.
They have generally involved quarantine periods of three to seven days, unlike the standard 14 days for most people who enter Taiwan, followed by seven to 11 days of “self-health management” at home, Lee said in an interview.
However, crew members’ time in quarantine can be cut short if they have another assignment, Lee said.
It is a formula that has enabled local airlines to maintain normal operations and meet soaring air cargo demand, helping EVA and China Airlines turn a profit last year.
Yet because flight crew members have long been considered the main vulnerability in Taiwan’s COVID-19 prevention strategy, protocols related to their movements have been enforced with particular rigidity and those who breach regulations have been turned into pariahs by local media.
HUGE SACRIFICES
No matter where they are, crew members have had little personal freedom.
While overseas, they are taken directly to their hotels upon arrival and handed a room card that can only be used once, ensuring that they cannot leave before they are supposed to, Lee said.
For their return trip, they are taken directly to the airport, and after arriving in Taiwan, they head back to a quarantine facility, living in a perpetual “tour of quarantine hotels,” she said.
Flight attendants, who have more time off because of the drop in passenger numbers, can at least make it home under the looser “self-health management” protocols.
However, pilots have had no such luck, being pressed more frequently into service to deal with soaring air cargo demand and staffing shortages as more of their colleagues take leave or retire because of the stress.
Lee, whose union represents close to 50 percent of all pilots working for domestic airlines, said she has seen schedules requiring pilots to do nothing other than work or stay in quarantine for up to 25 consecutive days.
In February, only about 20 to 30 percent of pilots who worked long-haul flights were able to meet the union’s call for “three days of freedom” from work, quarantine, or self-health management rules per month, depriving them of the chance to see their loved ones, Lee said.
Unsurprisingly, in a survey of 826 pilots conducted by the Pilots Union Taoyuan in November last year, 87 percent reported feeling under more strain than usual, and 90 percent said they felt unhappy or depressed.
DEVASTATING EFFECTS
“The sense of loneliness that each of us feels has grown more and more severe,” said Chen, who has been with China Airlines for more than 16 years and serves as deputy chairman of the Pilots Union Taoyuan.
“When I go home, I honestly do not really know how to go out, and when I meet people, I do not really know how to say hello to them, because we are so used to being alone,” Chen said. “We are gradually losing our ability to communicate with others. I have felt this very deeply.”
Chen said he applied to take December off to spend more time with his children, who had pleaded with him to spend more time at home.
Once, when he was in quarantine, one of his children ran away after having an argument with his wife, Chen said.
“I can’t describe how I felt, being alone in that room,” he said. “I couldn’t do anything.”
Even the looser “self-health management” protocols, which allow people to live at home, have not helped because they bar people from dining out, attending social gatherings or staying in hotels, significantly limiting what crew members can do with their family or friends.
MEDICAL NEEDS
During more strictly controlled periods, crew members under self-health management have even had to report every movement outside their home to health authorities, leaving some feeling as though they are under surveillance.
In addition, receiving medical care is nearly impossible, even under self-health management protocols, which also prohibit people from going to hospitals or clinics unless it is for an “emergency.”
That has resulted in postponed checkups, exacerbating health issues, Lee said, citing the example of a crew member who was diagnosed with cancer much later than she should have been, because her routine screening was delayed.
Although the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) has ordered certain government hospitals to treat crew members in emergency rooms, the needs of those with chronic health issues or who want to be with other ailing family members are not being met, Lee said.
Tiger Chao (趙婕歡), who has worked as an EVA flight attendant for 11 years, said that when her five-year-old son got sick while she was undergoing self-health management, she could not take him to see a doctor because she could not enter the clinic.
“It breaks your heart, seeing how your child is clearly feeling unwell, but you cannot take them to the doctor,” she said.
Chao is also feeling the toll of the unforgiving routine and restrictions.
“Sometimes I really want to go to work, because going to work is the only time I am legally allowed to have face-to-face contact with people,” she said. “It is like being chained by invisible shackles.”
‘UNREASONABLE’ RULES
Compounding crew members’ dismay are the inconsistencies in quarantine rules.
For example, Lee and Chen found it unreasonable that they can interact with their coworkers, but cannot go home, even if they test negative for COVID-19.
Yet politicians and foreign guests who visit Taiwan and the people they meet on their trips do not have to quarantine, nor do airport personnel, who come into contact with people who have COVID-19 each day.
Lee said she hoped that crew members would soon be allowed to forgo quarantine requirements altogether, or at least have more leeway to quarantine at home.
Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the CECC, has offered some hope, saying recently that the center would consider replacing quarantines for airline crew members with more testing, although he did not give a definite timeline.
In the meantime, EVA Airways and China Airlines said in statements that they have rolled out measures to support the physical and mental health of their crew members, such as free telephone counseling services and virtual fitness classes, while also adjusting crew members’ work schedules to better fit their needs.
While C.C. Chen accepted that the company supported his physical and mental health, he said that the burden remains on pilots to deal with the situation themselves.
“We go to counseling and we feel better in the moment, but after that you still have to face your life. If the situation has not changed, the counseling ends up being for nothing... You still have to go to work,” he said.
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