Among the many airlines, JetBlue is one of the first to decide to stop blocking middle seats for travel. They plan to start this after December 1st.
What We Know:
- Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus back in March 2020, air travel has been severely affected. To allow safe travels, there was limited seating on planes to allow for social distancing and a reduced capacity. The pandemic and resulting border restrictions caused U.S. air travel to plunge 95% in April.
- Now in November, the holidays are approaching and more people are planning to travel this season despite the virus. In the past couple of months, all middle seats were blocked on JetBlue planes in order to spread out travelers. After December 1st, the capacity will change.
- According to Des Moines Register, JetBlue spokesman Derek Dombrowski said the airline will keep flights under 70% full through Dec. 1, and will keep some limits through the holidays, “but what that capacity cap will be has yet to be determined”. This is to allow for large families who plan to travel over the next couple of weeks.
- JetBlue isn’t the only airline leaning towards this decision. KHOU 11 and The Grio state that Southwest Airlines said last week that it will stop limiting the number of seats it fills after Dec. 1. Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines say they will lift caps on seating early next year.
- Even though there is a fear that the coronavirus can be spread on airplanes, a recent study by the Defense Department’s transport command said the risk of spreading the virus that causes COVID-19 on planes is very low if everyone wears face masks.
With these airlines making these decisions, all we can do is hope that there aren’t spikes in cases around the United States and around the world.
