We flew from Florida to Los Angeles on June 10, 2020. We got a bunch of questions about how we felt, how the new safety precautions were, etc. While our trip was to pack our LA apartment for our summer relocation to Florida, I think these tips can help as you plan your summer vacation travel. As you plan your own trips and consider air travel again, everyone will have to assess the risks for themselves and their families.

Here’s our experience plus some tips to make sure you’re as safe as possible and have an enjoyable travel experience.

The three of us wore masks, brought hand sanitizer and wipes, and our own water bottles. We brought both wipes and hand sanitizer (in a bottle) because this allowed us to wipe down our seats and tray tables or even the bathroom really easily. And then we could easily make sure our hands were clean once seated. We stocked up at Target before we left. Make sure to get the travel size to easily go through TSA.

If you don’t have your own mask, Southwest Airlines had masks for every passenger available at the gate. Check with your airline to see what are their mask policies. You can also purchase your own masks and ones for your kids at Target or smaller retailers too. We got ours from TheSeea (made out of scraps of bathing suits) and they fit perfectly.

We brought our own water bottles and refilled them throughout the terminal and on our lay-over. Our favorite water bottles are from Corkcicle. If you drink a lot of water while you travel, you might opt for the larger 40 oz, just make sure it’s empty as you go through TSA.

At TSA, there was a plexiglass window between us and the officer. He was wearing gloves. At the TSA scanner, they didn’t move any luggage or touch anything- you were completely responsible for all of your luggage. Once you left that area there were several hand sanitizing stations, and we noticed many throughout the airport.

Since we were flying Southwest, we picked our seat. They asked everyone to leave the middle seats empty, so even though there were three of us (that would normally take up one whole row), we spread out to two rows. We boarded pretty early in the process, and just kept our heads facing the windows while everyone boarded. I’m not sure if this was necessary but it made me feel better since people were getting so close to us. We put Augustine on the window and due to so little people being on our flight, we didn’t have anyone within 6 feet of us, easily. *Bob flew in May and one of his flights was pretty packed (still no middle seat but very row had people in it). He said it felt pretty uncomfortable because there was no way to do 6 feet, so instead he just made sure to sanitize everything and not touch his face.

Southwest does provide a limited service, including a can of water and a straw plus a snack pack. You must bring everything else on board with you. If traveling with kids, I’d bring a lot of snacks (we already did this) and eat a main meal before you get on board.

Overall the experience was easy, actually, and I’ve missed the whole airport experience, as crazy as that sounds. I think if you’re an experienced traveler, you will be fine. You’ll notice the mask, and hand sanitizing stations everywhere but it quickly becomes routine again. If you don’t travel that often, you probably won’t even notice something as being “different” as the whole flying and TSA is already awkward and different from normal day life. I hope this helps- we did feel comfortable and like the airports were really trying everything they could to make sure it was as safe as possible.