The federal government gave airlines $25 billion in taxpayer money to combat the coronavirus’s economic crunch. Almost $6 billion went to American Airlines, nearly matching its market cap, and more than $5 billion went to Delta Air Lines. In exchange, the airlines have committed to making your flight experience as unpleasant as possible, returning to packing planes and taking away beverage services for all but first class. Because apparently, coronavirus can only transmit on coach.
Now, the six aviation unions have requested another $32 billion in payroll aid from Congress. If Congress really wants to speak for the people, it must make any aid contingent on changes to this course.
Because of the advanced air-filtration systems on planes, sitting on a plane is significantly safer than sitting on a bus or other generic enclosed spaces, and as of right now, only a few cases of in-flight transmission have been confirmed. But that’s been the case during a global lockdown leading to a 96% reduction in air travel. Now that airlines like American and United Airlines are starting to book flights to capacity, the story could well change.
The airlines think that it is not a coronavirus risk to force passengers to sit a centimeter apart on long-haul flights, during which you’d surely need to remove your mask at least to sip water, but that selling alcohol and serving soft drinks would be a bridge too far.
In other words, the airlines don’t think a stranger coughing 6 inches from your face is a coronavirus risk, but it might be too risky for them to serve you a Diet Coke.
This makes no sense and only serves to inflate the industry’s profit margins while putting customers at risk. That would be contemptible if these were mere private companies. That these companies were just saved by the very taxpayers they now seek to screw makes it downright unacceptable.
Wearing masks and social distancing work. New studies indicate that the risk of coronavirus infection past a distance of a mere meter, just over 3 feet, is just 3%. How wide are most airline seats? Nearly 2 feet wide, meaning that passengers divided by an empty middle seat probably sit with their faces about 3 feet apart.
And while we’re at it, please bring back the booze. If airlines have deduced that they can serve the folks in first class both soft and hard beverages safely, why can’t the rest of us enjoy the one thing (aside from downloadable movies) that makes flying less terrible?
Congress can afford to play hardball because it’s paying for all this with our grandchildren’s money. Members might as well demand that airlines put passengers before profits.
