Middle Seats And Packed Planes Are Coming Back As Airlines Prepare To Ease Restrictions
New York (CNN Business) - The dreaded middle seat is coming back.
US airlines had stopped selling them for months, both to ensure social distancing and because of a lack of passengers. But with a modest rebound in flying, that is changing.
American Airlines (AAL), the world's largest carrier disclosed Friday that "customers may notice that flights are booked to capacity starting July 1." This change comes even as the number of Covid-19 cases rises in many states.
United (UAL) has been willing to sell every possible seat throughout the pandemic. Both said they would notify passengers when a flight has more than 70% of its seats booked, and allow them to change to a less crowded flight. But that won't necessarily allow passengers with limited flexibility to avoid crowded flights.
The empty seats had been a result of low demand for air travel combined with airline policy meant to encourage people to feel safe about flying. But on Sunday there were 634,000 people passing through TSA checkpoints at US airports, which was 24% of the traffic on the same day last summer. That's the highest total since late March and is seven times as many people as were screened the low point in mid-April.
