A PASSENGER on a United flight was horrified by the airline’s lack of social distancing on a packed flight. Cardiologist Dr Ethan Weiss tweeted the image of himself on a flight surrounded by other passengers to highlight what he called the airline’s “relaxed social distancing” coronavirus measures. Dr Weiss added that “every seat [is] full” […]
A PASSENGER on a United flight was horrified by the airline’s lack of social distancing on a packed flight.
Cardiologist Dr Ethan Weiss tweeted the image of himself on a flight surrounded by other passengers to highlight what he called the airline’s “relaxed social distancing” coronavirus measures.
Dr Weiss added that “every seat [is] full” on the Boeing 737 he was flying on – a plane that typically carries up to 215 passengers.
He later commented that “a lot has changed in 10 days” before showing an email that was sent to him by the airline.
The email that was sent to passengers, dated April 30, talked about how “safety has always been our top priority” and detailed safety measures including “automatically blocking middle seats to give you enough space on board”.
United is not the only airline that has been shown to be breaking its own coronavirus policies.
A series of shocking photographs have shown flights crammed with passengers despite guidelines advising social distancing.
Many of the passengers previously pictured also appeared to opt out of wearing face masks before and during the flights.
One passenger traveling from Miami told The New York Post that on his American Airlines flight to Mexico City around 80 percent of people were not wearing masks.
In April United Airlines said that by the end of April it planned to implement a new seating policy, which would restrict advanced seat selection until May 31, including selecting adjacent seats when possible.
Delta announced that it, too, plans to block the middle seat on all flights in Main Cabin, Delta Comfort + and Delta Premium Select cabins, while Emirates have said this week that it plans to pre-allocate seats so that vacant seats are in the middle of passengers.
Meanwhile, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary described a social-distancing policy of leaving the middle seat empty as “idiotic,” saying that if the British government did not pay for his airline’s empty seats, his planes would not fly.
United has been approached for comment by The Sun.
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