ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - When the Total Solar Eclipse came around across the country Monday, while many across the country were waiting to catch a glimpse of the eclipse on the ground, a few lucky people were able to catch the eclipse in the sky.
On Monday Afternoon, Southwest Airlines had a flight from St. Louis to Houston and during the flight, it went through the path of Totality, letting those airborne catch the eclipse from the air, without the risk of clouds ruining the experience.
Many passengers say they experienced seeing an eclipse before, with unsurprisingly the most notable being the one in 2017, but very few say they have witnessed one while in the air.
"It's really exciting," said one female passenger. "I've seen an eclipse before, but not in the air so I'm really excited."
Southwest Airlines was prepared for the eclipse experience on the flight, with many eclipse-themed cocktails, flight attendants handing out Sun Chips and Moon Pies and, of course, eclipse glasses.
The pilots on the flight attempted to let passengers get a memorable experience of the eclipse.
"What I'm trying to do here in about a minute or so is get one turn to the right and get a turn to the left," said the Southwest pilot over the PA at one point. "So it's pretty much up to (Air Traffic Control), but we're trying to get this in for you so you can take good pictures."
When the plane reached the zone of totality, passengers cheered as they witnessed a memorable experience.
"We're pretty much in the middle of the zone of totality," said the Southwest pilot over the PA during the flight. "You can see how dark it is below us."
Passengers like Thomas from Minnesota were awed by the experience while in the air.
"Totally dark, it the size of the horizon of course," said Thomas from Minnesota to KMOX's Michael Calhoun. "Oh I can see the corona. Yeah that's beautiful. It looks like a ring around a black dot. It's fantastic."
As the flight left the area of Totality, those on the flight could still the eclipse off in a distance.
"One of the coolest things was that we saw this one plane go in and out of it," said the husband of a Houston couple who was on the flight. "It left this dark com trail, which was really wild. I never would've saw that (on the ground)."
When the flight landed in Houston, many couldn't comprehend the experience that they went through.
"It was amazing, we definitely saw more than we would've seen had we stayed home cause there's so many clouds," said a wife of the Houston couple. "I'm so happy we booked this flight so we could see it in the air. It was incredible. I can't really put it into words."
About everyone during the eclipse flight considered the experience a success and with the next major eclipse in the U.S. about 20 years away, the experience will be special for a select few for quite a while.