Posted on 05/11/2020 12:07:45 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Weve 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 theyre 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 theyre 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 wont be able to select seats next to each other or middle seats where available.
Heres 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
Youll 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 wont be sitting right next to someone else unless they were family members traveling together. But that wasnt 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 cant 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 theyre going to soak up every dollar in sales possible and you can stick your dreams of social distancing where the sun dont 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. Thats a great example of helping the country make it through the pandemic, eh? Theyre a real bunch of humanitarians over at United.
As Ive 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, its only getting worse. If I can somehow avoid ever taking a plane again for the rest of my life I will certainly do so.
I have my choice between a 2+ day RV ride or a 2.5hr airplane ride. Asked a friend who is an airline pilot and he said best case in his opinion is to wear a mask and wipe down my tray table. He thought there would be less overall exposure risk.
Me too but they need to fit better than that. The masks I make fit better than that.
You’ll probably have a row to yourself if you aren’t flying to NY or Chicago.
How do you social distance on an airplane? An empty seat between you and your neighbor would really only separate you by 2 feet so really, what good would that do? If you fear the virus, dont fly.
I think things will return to normal faster than anyone imagines. Maybe not in NYC but it will in the rest of the country.
I agree. She’s vegan fascist, too, and very sanctimonious about it.
My daughter and her family live part of the year in CA. and spend their summers in MA. They’ve rented an RV to drive home this year as opposed to flying. She said it was almost impossible to rent as the demand has skyrocketed. I’m sure people are going to see the USA this year instead of traveling to places abroad.
maybe he should have flown first class
The non-medical masks are placebos and exist to make snowflakes feel better.
I saw interviews with American Airlines and Southwest CEO’s and they seem serious about the hygiene and social distancing. They recognize it as critical to restoring consumer confidence.
“Im sure people are going to see the USA this year instead of traveling to places abroad.”
Watch gasoline prices climb steeply...
If that’s okay for the airlines, it should be okay for every other business in America.
"Safety has always been our top priority, and because of that, the social distancing and cleaning procedures that have become a way of life for all of us are now staples of the way we run our airline. When you're ready to fly, you'll see that a lot has changed at the airport and on board our aircraft. We're boarding fewer customers at a time and starting from the back of the plane to avoid crowding in the gate area, on the jet bridge and in the aisle. We're automatically blocking middle seats to give you enough space on board, requiring all our employees on board, including our flight attendants, to wear masks and, in early May, making masks available to our customers."
Their web site says it slightly differently:
"For those traveling now and in the near future, we're implementing additional, temporary changes to promote social distancing in the air and on the ground. At the end of April, we implemented additional steps to promote social distancing on all United and United Express flights by making some temporary changes to seat assignments and adjustments to our boarding process. 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."
"Limiting seat selections in all cabins, so customers won't be able to select seats next to each other or middle seats where available. We're also alternating window and aisle seats when seats are in pairs."
Both in emails in on their website United says passengers won't be able to select middle seats, and that they are "blocked". But from the photographs of the NY to SFO flight that clearly is not true.
So United's big statement about their policy is not true in any substantial way. It may be true coincidentally on a nearly empty flight, but that certainly not what their written messages convey.
No wonder United has such a lousy reputation.
Yup. Everyone should be wearIng a Level B hazmat suit at all times... even during sexual intercourse.
So you want filtered air vs outside air at 30,000 feet?
Apparently United 737-70's have 126 seats in 23 rows.
Complying with social distancing would likely mean 2 passengers per row, or 46 paying fares.
Just wondering out loud if this doctor would accept billing 1/3 of his normal rates until told otherwise.
Pussy
Portland to San Diego. I hope we have space to ourselves and they don’t cancel the flight.
Good. We need herd immunity and social distancing isn’t going to get us there.
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