Flying During Covid-19

Doesn't this look strange?

Jordan and I recently flew to California on a last-minute trip because, sadly, his grandpa passed away suddenly from a heart attack. The family decided to gather together as best we could to celebrate his life and share memories together. I'm sure we'll try to do a service once we are all allowed to be together in larger numbers.

Flying during this Pandemic is definitely a very different experience! Jordan and I booked the first flight out of Denver on Southwest that morning. We were anticipating that they might have to move us forward to the next flight, and the next, and the next until they got a plane full enough of passengers to be worth it. It takes a lot of money to get a plane in the air and we weren't sure they would fly if too few people were on board.

There ended up being 7 people on our flight that morning! Apparently 9 were scheduled to fly and 2 didn't show up for whatever reason, but we still took off. I was amazed, but mostly... grateful. You all know by now how much I "luv" Southwest Airlines. When I travel, I choose them if at all possible. I don't know the ins and outs of why they still flew, but I am so happy they did. We got to California earlier in the day which meant we got to spend even more time with our family. That's priceless to us!

Here are a few ways the logistics were different:

The kiosks to print out your checked bag sticker and boarding passes were closed. Instead, there was a line we waited in and a Southwest Employee helped us one-on-one to check our bag contactless-ly. I am sure they closed the kiosks to reduce the surfaces touched.

When we went through security, the guards did ask that we lower our masks briefly so that they could check our faces to our identification cards.

Before we boarded the gate agent advised us to get something to eat and drink before boarding since there would be no in-flight food and beverage service. This is to reduce contact. So we did go grab a quick to=go breakfast and brought it on board.

Since there were only 7 of us, they just called us all up at once and we boarded, staying 6 feet away from each other. They didn't mind at all that Jordan and I sat next to each other on the flight since we are family. (Somehow with all that room, I still chose a middle seat! 😂)

Once our flight landed, we headed for baggage claim. We initially searched for the carousel that was moving, because that's normal, but then saw some baggage claim agents waving us down at the back of the room. There had only been 4 bags checked total. So they didn't even bother turning on an entire carousel! They just unloaded them right into the baggage claim room. haha it made perfect sense and we all had a good laugh!

Traveling looks a little different right now, just like everything else! One encouragement I would give anyone who wants or needs to travel somewhere is that there are plenty of ways to make it work without coming into contact with too many people. We felt completely safe the entire time we traveled and would happily hop on another flight right away if we needed to! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

bousman babe