What It's Like to Fly During a Pandemic - 10 Tips for Staying Safe While Traveling

As the world slowly reopens, the question on everyone’s mind becomes: how do we stay safe while traveling during a pandemic? I am writing this as I currently sit in the airport terminal awaiting a flight to our first Monica Goes shoot since the pandemic began. I had my first experience flying a few weeks ago after I moved to Denver, Colorado and put together some helpful tips for staying safe while flying.

1.BOOK A DIRECT FLIGHT

One of the biggest concerns when flying during a pandemic is the amount of interaction with people that is unavoidable at an airport. From checking in, to going through security, to boarding the plane, there’s people everywhere. To cut down the amount of social interactions I had, I booked a direct flight to my destination. This also helps reduce the amount of time you’re in the actual airplane and exposed to on-board germs.

2. FLY AN AIRLINE THAT IS LEAVING MIDDLE SEATS OPEN

Airplanes are crowded enough without the fear of a deadly disease added in. At the moment, I’m ONLY flying on airlines that are leaving the middle seats open like Southwest Airlines. It helps separate people by the necessary 6 feet apart that is proven to reduce the spread of Covid-19. It also eliminates the awkward elbow battle for the middle armrest, win/win!

While it’s impossible to keep your distance from the people behind and in front of you, be aware of your surroundings and try to sit next to the healthiest looking people if your airline has open seating. Don’t be afraid to ask to be re-seated if someone is making you uncomfortable or feel unsafe.

3. MASK, FACE SHIELD, AND DISPOSABLE GLOVES

While at this point we’ve all become accustomed to wearing a face mask wherever we go, there’s a couple of extra precautions that you can take while flying. I purchased a pack of Face Shields from Amazon for $11.95 that helped give me extra reassurance and protection from any cough or sneeze particles that may be flying around on board.

I also brought along a few sets of Disposable Gloves to wear on board the flight. While gloves are not required, and there’s been mixed reviews on how much they help prevent disease, they still can touch particles, and then you touch your face. But that’s why instead of wearing the same pair all day, I only chose to wear them on my flights and dispose of them afterward. Bonus points for the environmentally friendly, compostable gloves!

4. SANITIZER, SANITIZER, SANITIZER!!! AND WASH YOUR HANDS!

The biggest way we can ALL stay healthy, pandemic or not, is by washing our hands. Any time I get through security, before I board the plane, and once I get off the plane, I always stop at a bathroom and wash my hands (that could also be because of the massive amounts of water and coffee that have been consumed but still…)

In between, I use sanitizer ALL DAY! Think about it, when you get to the airport, you open the door, touch the kiosk to check in, trade your license and boarding pass with a number of people, touch the security bins, and on, and on, and on. I bring multiple mini bottles of hand sanitizer to use after each one of these times. I’m a big fan of the Bath and Body Works mini sanitizer bottles (I highly recommend the stress relief aromatherapy if you wanna add some extra calm to your travel experience!).

Another way to stay clean and healthy on board a flight is by wiping down your seat, tray, armrest, etc. with sanitizing wipes like the ones from Trip Wipes.

5. STAY AS DISTANCED AS POSSIBLE FROM PEOPLE AT THE AIRPORT

This isn’t always the easiest thing to do, especially the more time that goes on and people get more relaxed on their pandemic practices, but most airports now have 6ft. markers throughout their lines that help show you where to stand. I found the flight I took a few weeks ago people really adhered to the distancing rules, but for today’s flight people were crowded into lines. I simply made a point to keep further back and take my time in each line. Once I was through security, I found an empty gate to sit at until it was time to walk over to my actual gate. You don’t NEED to sit outside your flight’s gate, as long as you give yourself enough time to get there before boarding begins.

6. BRING A COUPLE OF COUGH DROP SO IF YOU GET A TICKLE IN YOUR THROAT YOU’RE NOT THAT PERSON

These days, if you swallow your water wrong and start coughing people look at you as if you just slapped their baby. It’s ok, we’ve all been guilty of both and the sound of coughing is enough to make anyone paranoid in the midst of the pandemic. I always bring a couple of cough drops with me for two reasons. 1. I can avoid those death glares, and being so uncomfortable and suppressing a cough, and 2. It helps others feel safe if they can get through a cough-free flight.

7. TAKE YOUR VITAMINS

This is a good rule of thumb every day, but it’s even more crucial when traveling and exposing ourselves to different people and environments. I take a daily multivitamin and then a couple of days before, during, and after, traveling I take an extra Vitamin C or Emergen-C packet. Never hurts to boost the ol immune system!

8. USE A NASAL RINSE

Whenever I get home from flying or if I’ve had a particularly unsafe-feeling shift of Instacart delivering groceries, I like to do a nasal rinse. This basically flushes out your sinuses and any particles that may be around that haven’t fully effected your immune system yet. One of the most popular is the Neti Pot, I personally use the NeilMed Sinus Rinse, both do the trick!

9. TAKE A SHOT OF APPLE CIDER VINEGAR

Apple Cider Vinegar is FULL of amazing health benefits but two big ones for immunity are that it’s high in healthy substances and has been proven to kill harmful bacteria. As a bonus, it can improve your skin, help you lose weight, and keep blood sugar low. I like to mix it either with cold water or apple juice to distill the strong taste.

10. TAKE A COVID-19 TEST WHEN YOU GET HOME

The biggest thing we can all do to help prevent the spread of Covid-19 is to get tested if we’ve put ourselves in a situation when it can be easily spread such as traveling. When I got back from Denver, I limited the amount of people I interacted with and went and got a Covid-19 test. The process in Los Angeles was extremely efficient, took about 5 minutes, and I had my negative results back in less than 24 hours.

Traveling these days looks a bit different than it did in 2019 but it can still be done if we do it smartly. The key is to take care of ourselves and take care of each other and we’ll all get through this together. Stay safe everyone!