What's it like to fly during Covid

Yep, I took the plunge and flew this month. And you know what, I liked it. Let me walk you through the experience. I took Southwest Airlines because I have a companion pass which by the way is the best travel deal in the industry. You can learn more about how to earn a pass yourself by clicking here. 
I didn't like crowds before COVID so I certainly don't like them now. And here's what the airport looked like when I arrived. Honestly, this is a dream for me. 

I couldn't believe it, I even wondered if the airport was open. But it was and I went inside. Needless to say, security was also empty. I did not have any bags to check so I didn't go to the counter, but it was probably empty too. Since security was so empty, I got chosen to be randomly scanned. But if you read my blog, you will know that I almost always get stopped at security for my person or my luggage so I allow extra time. This time, they had a problem with my shoes, that's a new one for me. So they had me take them off so they could run them through the scanner and asked me to walk through again. I got flagged again so now I earned a pat-down. Then my luggage got flagged too so they opened my suitcase. Oh well, I had plenty of time so it was fine. 

Along with few people, many of the restaurants and stores inside the airport were also closed. So definitely bring food along. Southwest recently changed its mask policy and eliminated bandanas from the approved list. But they have approved masks available at the counter if yours is not acceptable. From the Southwest.com website:

Everyone was masked and sitting at least six feet apart from each other near the gate. Southwest is now asking just 10 people to line up at a time to board and through October they are not selling the middle seat. My flight had about 50% capacity, the flight at the next gate had 53 people total flying so there is plenty of room. 

I had a row to myself on all four of my flights. Woohoo! 

Once on board, most people appeared to be wiping down their seats, seatbelt and tray table. If you need help on how to do this, watch my previous post. 
The flight attendants came around twice to serve water and a packaged snack. No alcohol was allowed on the flight. 

Once we landed, it was a bit more chaotic as everyone tried to exit the plane quickly and at the same time, but overall, I felt safe and the plane felt very clean. 
Now I am 5 days into self-quarantine and so far, so good. I'll keep you posted.