While I applaud the airlines taking measures to secure passenger safety, I wonder about the results. For instance, I don’t see any airline reducing capacity by 1/3 (eliminating the center seat) without increasing fares by 1/3, making that $300 fare $400.
requiring masks will undoubtedly tick off people, but if every airline does it, the majority will complain, but go right back to flying the cheapest airline once things are back to “normal”, so flying full but requiring masks may be the most economical way forward at this time.
For those who want more distance, the options would be to fly first class or buy the center seat and leave it empty, assuming that’s an option.
We have 3 flights booked on SWA’s, Delta and American.We booked first class on AA because they tend to REALLY cram passengers together. Of course first class isn’t available on SWA and first class was completely booked on Delta by the time it was obvious this would continue to be a problem.
For the foreseeable future, we’ll likely cut back on air travel as much as can be allowed, but we’ll still likely need to fly, at a minimum, one time per year, probably two. There’s not a lot within driving distance for our March/April vacation and December would be really difficult as we enjoy warm weather climates to cold mountain tops.