Flying Southwest Airlines in a Pandemic: Long Beach (LGB) - Oakland (OAK) | Trip Report

On August 28, 2021 I took a Southwest flight from Long Beach (LGB) to Oakland (OAK) as the last leg of my journey to cruise on the Carnival Panorama. Here is the trip report. Masks are required to be worn as soon as you are on airport property, throughout the flight, and until you exit the airport property at your arrival location. The airline also requires passengers to “sip and cover” during the flight, which is to say that if you are eating/drinking, and pause for a bit between sips, they want that mask back on in between. Long Beach airport doesn’t have the stations with the numbers on them where people are used to queuing up. So the gate agent simply announced which group he was boarding over time, and people with that group lined up at that time. With the exception of one woman who tried to use this as an excuse to jump the line. She was apparently not in the group being boarded, and she tried to argue with the gate agent to let her on ahead of time anyway. He told her she needed to follow the rules like everyone else was, and her parting comment as she walked away was about “Yeah, follow the rules, like that’s a good idea.” It was a very Karen moment. Beverage service has been altered during the pandemic. They announce the drinks offered and their assigned number. One drink is offered and you select by numbers 1-5: 1. Coke 2. Diet Coke 3. Sprite 4. Water 5. Coffee When they come by you hold up the appropriate number of fingers to indicate your preference. Alcohol was not served on my flights. Oh, and you get a very small bag of pretzels. Contact email: Sue@SoloSueTravels.com Instagram: SoloSueTravels Twitter: @SoloSueTravels1 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoloSueTravels/ #Southwest #pandemictravel #covidflying ES_Beach Memories by Sum Wave courtesy of Epidemic Sound | www.epidemicsound.com