What to Expect When Flying During COVID19

Flying during all this mess is not something I ever planned to do.

In fact, we have gone to great pains to make our Alabama trip this summer a ROAD trip rather than a plane trip. However, unexpected things came up, and I ended up flying to Florida, of all places!

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I had hit a mental wall. Does that happen to you sometimes? Nothing that you could possibly do sounds like a good idea. There is nothing interesting. In fact, you really want to get in your car and drive and drive.

I was homesick, and I wrote about that here. Our family feels so far away. And as it turns out, cabin fever is a REAL THING. We, like many of you, have been on lockdown, or even phase two of reopening, for four months now. Unfortunately, the rona is still a threat, and kids are not great about germs and not touching things, so I do not feel secure about putting all the boys on a plane and flying home to see my parents. My dad has COPD, so that wouldn’t be right.

Wednesday afternoon, I convinced Alan to go somewhere with me, to pick up dinner. I cannot even remember where we went to get food. Oh yeah! Chipotle! We were on our way to Chipotle for take out, and I got a text message from my friend Jennings. I usually see Jennings at least once a year. She is a flight attendant, so traveling is what she does. Plus, she is the best at keeping in touch.

So Jennings texted and said she is at a local-ish airport. For the past few days, before she called, I had a seed of a thought of going to see Jennings myself. The thing is I never know when she is home, and usually it is hard for me to get away. I texted her back and threw my idea out there. She has come to visit me so many times, and yet I have never visited her. I was finally in a place where that could be fixed. Alan is working at home now, so he can actually take care of the children on a couple of weekdays too.

As it turned out, Jennings’s only time off was right away.

I did a quick scan of airline ticket prices, and they were still cheap even if you buy them the day of right now. So few people are flying.

I ran the idea past Jennings. She hopped right on board with my idea and then did one better. Jennings supplied me with buddy passes, so it actually cost me nothing at all to fly to see her.

Alan approved the plan, especially since there will be a month between when I do the flying and when I see my dad, so I am not putting him at greater risk.

We made the plan on Wednesday night, and I flew out Thursday afternoon. Now how is that for spontaneous?

In case any of you end up flying this year, here is my experience to help you prepare.

Everything was WAY less crowded than usual, even the interstate.

I drove myself to Washington Dulles airport at lunch time on Thursday. Dulles Airport is in the Washington, D.C. area, and that involves driving on the beltway, which is normally a packed interstate highway. I have driven on 495 during COVID a couple of times now, and it is a completely different experience than it used to be. It is more congested now that in was in the beginning of the lockdown, for sure, but it still is not the intimidating ordeal that it normally is.

Parking was also outside the norm.

There are normally two economy rate daily parking garages to accommodate the massive amount of travelers. For now, only ONE of the two garages is open, and it is at least half empty, if not more than half empty.

I parked as close as I could to the shuttle stop, took a photo of my parking row identifiers, grabbed my suitcases, and headed on in. Of course, I just missed the shuttle, so I went by foot.

No Lines at Check In

What more can I say? I walked right up and checked in. There were no lines anywhere, except restaurants. Very few restaurants were open. Almost all stores and food places were closed.

You must pack food!

More and more places are gradually re-opening, but I would not risk it. You do not want to end up delayed and starving in an airport. Some cities I went through had more food available than others, but there was no abundance of choices anywhere. Plus, it is much safer to eat your own food from home. Any time we eat out, we are accepting a risk, whether we are in our home town or on the road.

It WAS kind of embarrassing to have to admit all the food I had to the inquisitive security checkpoint man.

“No water bottles? Liquids?”

“No.”

“Do you have food?”

“Yes.”

“What food do you have?”

“Oh…uhhhh. Um…crackers….cheese….almonds…..” I also had dried tart cherries. Those help me with my arthritis, but for some reason also having cherries felt embarrassing to admit, so I did not.

There was NO line anywhere for security!!

Everyone had their mask on. I came in contact with very few people on this trip. Everyone tries to sit in chairs away from other people. The lack of lines makes distance easier to accomplish, and even on the plane you do not actually have to sit directly next to anyone.

All middle seats remain empty per Southwest Airlines policy, and probably other airlines are doing the same.

I never heard anyone coughing on the plane, but there was an older lady with a wheezy sounding cough in the ladies’ bathroom one time. That did make me a little nervous. I was extra careful to steer clear of her, bless her heart.

Some airports are busier than others.

While Washington Dulles was extremely dead, Atlanta was still hopping with people. However, it was probably less than half of the amount of people normally in Atlanta airport. I am completely serious. Usually it is hard to even find a seat in Atlanta. Now there are humongous sections of completely empty seats everywhere. There is no reason to have to sit next to anyone.

The only lines were for food.

With most vendors closed, demand was high for Charley’s, Chick-fil-a, and vending machines. On Sunday, Chick-fil-a was closed, so that is when I saw longer lines for the first time. Plus, the vending machines were hit so hard they were half empty.

This all brings me back to my main advice: PACK YOUR OWN FOOD.

Packing your own food gives you so much peace of mind, about not starving and about not catching the rona.

Most importantly for me though, it is all about my ear problem. Nothing helps me with my ears more than eating on descent. I have sinus ears because I am allergic to everything, and I have had sinus ears since I was a baby. Even sleeping in my bed at night sometimes makes them hurt as my sinuses settle into one ear or the other. A year ago I flew with a head cold, and it took a month for me to fully recover my hearing. I have to have that food as the plane descends to help my ears pop with the landing.

Thankfully, this trip went well for my ears. An hour and a half from the airport, just as I was getting off the exit that goes to my house, my right ear popped, and I am hearing just fine today.

More good news: There were extra hand sanitizer stations everywhere.

Also great: On three out of four of my flights, I had an entire row of three airplane seats to myself. Across the aisle, that person had a row of three seats to themselves too.

Beverage Service

Each airline has its own policy for this, but Southwest provided each traveler with water and a pre-packaged snack mix on each flight. This was all accomplished much more quickly than the service usually takes too because without all the choices, the flight attendants were not having to drag the cart down the aisle and take orders. Plus, again, there are far fewer passengers.

Boarding and De-Planing are probably the closest you will get to other passengers.

During boarding, the Southwest agent only called up ten people at a time, so there was far less proximity. However, we passengers were not good about staying six feet from each other at all. As you step onto the plane, old habits kind of take over, and you end up right behind the next person. However, you are not facing each other, and everyone is required to wear a mask.

Jennings has even seen a couple of people show up in full haz-mat suits!

When your mask feels miserable…

Masks are a great idea, and they are proven to truly help slow the spread of disease. That is a blessing. Sometimes, though, especially with a good sun burn, it can feel hot and blehhh. The best way to get a break from your mask is to take a water break. No one is required to wear a mask when eating or drinking, so get yourself a big cup, scoot away from all the people, and sip on that drink for a while for a good mask-break.

I do realize it is a little controversial to take a trip like this in the current state of the union, but I had to accept that risk. We like to pretend like mental health is not important, but I could not disagree more. Our whole family has lived in full lockdown for four months, and y’all, there is a limit. I do promise that I was extremely careful. This can be done. We all take a risk every time we get take out food, so I do not see how this is any different.

But it might make you feel better to see the beach where I vacationed. It literally ALWAYS looked like this:

But to be completely honest, yes, I will be nervous for 14 days. While I was very careful, I was in Florida, where rates are notoriously high.

Now on the next post I will tell you more about this trip, which was exactly what I needed!

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