{"id":20526,"date":"2020-06-28T12:17:03","date_gmt":"2020-06-28T19:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyovation.com\/?p=20526"},"modified":"2020-06-28T15:59:20","modified_gmt":"2020-06-28T22:59:20","slug":"american-united-airlines-end-social-distancing-book-flights-full-capacity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyovation.com\/2020\/06\/28\/american-united-airlines-end-social-distancing-book-flights-full-capacity\/","title":{"rendered":"American, United Airlines end social distancing, book flights to full capacity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018I can\u2019t imagine a worse time to tell passengers that the airplanes they may be on will be completely full,\u2019 a pilots union spokesman said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

American Airlines<\/strong> will begin booking flights at full capacity starting late June, ending any effort to encourage social distancing<\/strong> on its planes just as the United States sets daily records for new reported cases of the coronavirus.<\/p>\n

American\u2019s dangerous move matches the policy choice of United Airlines, <\/strong>however\u00a0agressively goes against rivals that continue limiting bookings<\/strong> to allow extra space between passengers and minimize the risk of contagion.<\/p>\n

Henry Harteveldt<\/strong>, a travel analyst with Atmosphere Research Group, said:<\/p>\n

American \u201cis clearly putting its profitability ahead\u201d of the health of passengers and its own employees.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cPacking an airplane 100% full without health testing in place is a risky business decision,\u201d Harteveldt said.<\/h3>\n

\u201cIf someone contracts the COVID-19 virus on a 100% full plane, they\u2019re going to sue American Airlines. Just because another airline is doing it doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s the right business decision.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since April, American has practiced limited bookings<\/strong> at about 85% of a plane\u2019s capacity by leaving about half the middle seats open.<\/p>\n

Now, starting Wednesday June 24, the airline will start selling every seat it can.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI can\u2019t imagine a worse time to tell passengers that the airplanes they may be on will be completely full,\u201d said the union spokesman, Dennis Tajer.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The pilots\u2019 union is hoping the airline reconsiders.<\/p>\n

American said it will continue to notify customers if their flights are likely to be full<\/strong> and offer to change flights at no extra cost<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In addition they will\u00a0let passengers change seats<\/strong> on the plane if there is room in the same cabin.<\/p>\n

\n
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Delta says it is capping seats at about 60% of capacity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Southwest continues to cap seats at about 67%.<\/strong><\/p>\n

JetBlue says it will leave middle seats empty through July 31<\/strong> unless the person is traveling with a passenger in an adjoining seat.<\/p>\n

United, Spirit Airlines and now American, however, are taking a different approach<\/strong><\/p>\n

They argue their other preventative steps \u2014 including heightened cleaning procedures and requiring all passengers to wear face coverings \u2014 eliminate the need to block seats.<\/p>\n

United CEO Scott Kirby<\/strong> has said social distancing is impossible on planes<\/strong>; that even with empty middle seats, people are less than six feet away from each other.<\/p>\n

Confirmed new COVID-19 infections in the U.S. hit an all-time high<\/strong> of 40,000 this week.<\/p>\n

Many of American\u2019s busiest airports<\/strong> are located in states with skyrocketing infection rates, including Texas<\/strong>, Florida<\/strong>, Arizona<\/strong> and North Carolina<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Travel agent Brett Snyder<\/strong>, who writes a website called Cranky Flier<\/strong>, said American made its decision from a business perspective.<\/p>\n

Snyder says most people travelling now are leisure flyers who have decided it\u2019s an acceptable risk.<\/p>\n

Airlines have been devastated by the pandemic.<\/h3>\n

Travel dropped by about 95% at its low point in April. Since then, traffic has picked up slightly \u2014 77% lower than the comparable day a year ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018I can\u2019t imagine a worse time to tell passengers that the airplanes they may be on will be completely full,\u2019 a pilots union spokesman said. American Airlines will begin booking flights at full capacity starting late June, ending any effort to encourage social distancing on its planes just as the United States sets daily records […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8241,8235],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20526","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-global-adventure","8":"category-travel"},"yoast_head":"\nAmerican, United Airlines end social distancing, book flights to full capacity - Daily Ovation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dailyovation.com\/2020\/06\/28\/american-united-airlines-end-social-distancing-book-flights-full-capacity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"American, United Airlines end social distancing, book flights to full capacity - Daily Ovation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u2018I can\u2019t imagine a worse time to tell passengers that the airplanes they may be on will be completely full,\u2019 a pilots union spokesman said. 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