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United is among several airlines that have established policies to try to keep intermediate seats open.
A photo of a crowded American flight posted on Twitter by a cardiologist returning from the New York City area may hint at the difficulties of social estrangement as air travel resumes.
Dr. Ethan Weiss tweeted a photo on Saturday (NZT Sunday) showing what appears to be a complete United Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey, to San Francisco.
Although passengers wear masks, he said the crowded cabin runs counter to United’s assurances that it would leave the intermediate seats empty to promote social distancing to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
“I guess @united is relaxing its social distancing policy these days. Every seat full on this 737,” Weiss tweeted along with the photo. He is a doctor and scientist at the University of California, San Francisco, who had been in New York working to help with the coronavirus crisis.
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In a separate tweet, Weiss included a statement from United’s director of customer service, sent to all passengers, saying: “We automatically lock the middle seats to give him enough space on board.”
He said in a tweet that he was among the medical workers United had brought to New York for free to help address the flood of patients due to the pandemic. He added that “people on this plane are scared / shocked.”
Weiss said USA Nowadays He had no further comments beyond his tweets.
Upon response, a United spokeswoman said the airline has taken steps to address the coronavirus.
“We reviewed our cleaning and security procedures and implemented a new boarding and disembarking process to promote social estrangement,” spokeswoman Kimberly Gibbs said in an email.
“Our flight to San Francisco had 25 additional medical professionals on board flying free to volunteer their time in New York. We have provided courtesy flights for more than 1,000 doctors and nurses in the past few weeks alone, and all were asked to passengers and employees who cover their faces, in accordance with our new policy. “
United is among several airlines that have put in place policies to try to keep middle seats open, although to some it seems more like a goal than a guarantee. Airline passenger traffic has plummeted to levels not seen since the 1950s, and domestic flights recently averaged 17 passengers, Nicholas Calio, CEO of industry trade group Airlines for America, told a Committee of the United States Senate. United last week.
But as the US USA They begin to reopen, air traffic begins to increase and there is more pressure to fill the middle seats.
The Transportation Security Administration said it examined 215,444 people who passed through checkpoints on Friday when Mother’s Day weekend began, the highest daily number since March 25 and more than double the minimum of 87,534 on April 14. Airline executives have repeatedly said this month that they believe travel demand bottomed out in mid-April.
However, Friday’s figure continues to drop nearly 92 percent from the same Friday last year, when 2.6 million passengers, crew members and airport employees were screened at TSA checkpoints.
– USA Nowadays
