Posted on 05/11/2020 12:07:45 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
We’ve already seen how most of the major airlines are playing their virtue-signaling game when it comes to social distancing on flights. In addition to making everyone wear masks – a good move to be sure – they’re talking about spacing passengers out to reduce the risk of infection. (One airline that briefly proposed charging extra for social distancing quickly abandoned the plan.) But how serious are they about that pledge?
One doctor from San Francisco discovered that they’re not very serious about it at all, at least in the case of United Airlines. Dr. Ethan Weiss had been out in New York City, working as one of the many volunteers in the medical field who have been helping to combat the virus in the Big Apple. Heading home after several weeks on the front lines, Weiss boarded his United flight only to find every seat filled with nervous, frightened people. While he was more polite about it than I probably would have been, he was still clearly not impressed. (San Francisco Gate)
A UCSF doctor, coming home after several weeks in New York City helping coronavirus patients, shared his shocking experience of traveling on a packed flight back to SFO.
Tweets from cardiologist Ethan Weiss went viral Saturday after the doctor posted a photo of a full United flight.
“I guess @united is relaxing their social distancing policy these days?” he wrote. “Every seat full on this 737.”
On April 22, United announced it was “limiting seat selections in all cabins, so customers won’t be able to select seats next to each other or middle seats where available.”
Here’s the tweet that started the ball rolling.
I guess @united is relaxing their social distancing policy these days? Every seat full on this 737 pic.twitter.com/rqWeoIUPqL
— Ethan Weiss (@ethanjweiss) May 9, 2020
You’ll note that the linked article reminds us of how United put out a statement a few weeks ago saying that they would be “limiting seat selection in all cabins” so passengers won’t be sitting right next to someone else unless they were family members traveling together. But that wasn’t really an official policy at all. It was a PR stunt. They later went on to clarify their position, saying “Though we cannot guarantee that all customers will be seated next to an unoccupied seat, based on historically low travel demand and the implementation of our various social distancing measures that is the likely outcome.”
Allow me to translate that for you. What United was really saying was that they hate the fact that everyone is staying home and they can’t sell all of their seats, so they might as well let you benefit from that by not sitting next to a stranger. But (and this is the important caveat), if they can manage to sell all the seats for a flight you can damn well rest assured that they’re going to soak up every dollar in sales possible and you can stick your dreams of social distancing where the sun don’t shine.
This is clearly what happened to Dr. Weiss and his fellow passengers. United cut back on the number of flights from New York to San Francisco to the point where everyone forced to make the journey on that day had to book the same flight. They sold all the seats and basically told everyone to put on a mask, shut their mouths and suck it up. That’s a great example of helping the country make it through the pandemic, eh? They’re a real bunch of humanitarians over at United.
As I’ve said here repeatedly, airline travel was a horrible experience before the novel coronavirus hit unless you happened to be wealthy enough to fly First Class all of the time. And now, with all of this COVID-19 business making everything even more of a horror show, it’s only getting worse. If I can somehow avoid ever taking a plane again for the rest of my life I will certainly do so.
it’s a business. they need to make money. half-empty planes don’t make money. you fly at your own risk...
Dagen McDowell went positively ballistic about this on FBN this morning. She’s such a Karen.
My recent flight was changed twice and still ended up being pleasantly 1/3 full.
Also super cheap.
Their masks look snug and well fit...NOT.
NO goggles to protect those moist eyeballs, either.
What a joke so many parts of this are...
RE: NO goggles to protect those moist eyeballs, either.
And the air recirculates in the airplane.
It better recirculate so it goes through the HEPA filters to capture any floating virus-embedded particles. Also air in an airliner cabin circulates laterally, not down the length of the cabin. This further limits exposure to those within the same row of seats.
I think the masks and gloves are more important (and good enough) than the “social distancing” whereas the social distancing by itself would be meaningless in an enclosed space.
Airliner air probably much cleaner than in a Walmart or pot shop:
Aircraft Cleaning and Cabin environment — Keeping you safe within our experience
Southwest Promise
Southwest Airlines aircraft are maintained in accordance with an established program aimed at providing a clean and inviting cabin environment. In addition to tidying each aircraft between flights, we spend more than six hours cleaning each aircraft every night. As of March 4, 2020, we have enhanced our overnight cleaning procedures.
Typically, we use an EPA approved, hospital-grade disinfectant in the lavatories and an interior cleaner in the cabin. Now, we are expanding the use of the hospital-grade disinfectant throughout the aircraft, and it will be used in the cabin, on elements in the flight deck, and in the lavatory. These procedures meet or exceed recommendations from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
All of our aircraft are equipped with HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) filters, which filter out airborne particles as the air onboard is recirculated with outside air. These same HEPA filters are used in many hospitals to enhance air quality within this environment.
Our aircraft are also designed with an air circulation system that mixes in fresh air from outside the plane. The HEPA filter and the air circulation system work together to provide optimum air quality while onboard a Southwest plane which, in most cases, exceeds the quality of air that can be found outdoors, as well as a typical office building or similar public venue. On average, a complete exchange of cabin air and outside air is accomplished every three minutes.
Learn how we’re protecting your health and wellness from check-in to deplaning.
https://www.southwest.com/Coronavirus/?clk=CORONAVIRUS_TA&cbid=4430033
The air system’s probably been mostly for fart handling.
He should’ve done his part and rented a car. I just don’t buy that if this 737 was, say, 50% full the risk would be noticeably lower. You’re still putting people in an enclosed space for several hours with recirculated air. So spacing the same people out and putting them on TWO flights instead of one would really mitigate the risk?
He could drive.
Or the airlines could cut passengers to a third or a sixth and charge 3 to six times more.
HEPA filters can trap 99.95% of particles down to 0.3um. Covid-19 virus particle can be as small as 0.06 microns, and the largest are 0.14 microns.
See number 9. Airliners completely exchange cabin air with outside air every three minutes.
We need our flying cars.. now.
Cover your eyes , it crawls in through your eyes ,he should have shouted
The more she speaks the less I like her.
Uh, he’s seeing an isolated case.
Most UAL flights in Bay Area going out with like 15-20 people on board.
Social distancing is only for us little people and businesses without lobbist.
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