SHUT DOWN
There are many unanswered questions about an idea to get the trip back to normal.
USA TODAY
Southwest Airlines has resumed traditional boarding procedures and abandoned a pandemic policy of carrying passengers in smaller groups for publicity purposes social distancing.
The country’s largest domestic airline that does not assign seats began boarding passengers in groups of 30 on March 15. Since it was revealed, she had boarded passengers in groups of 10 “Southwest Promise” Health and Safety Protocols in May.
“The majority of our customers are familiar with Southwest’s standard boarding style and expect the normal boarding process when they return to travel,” Southwest spokeswoman Brandy King said in a statement.
Journeys that have been decimated by the Coronavirus pandemicshows strong signs of life this month as more Americans are being vaccinated and The number of coronavirus cases is improving in many areas of the country. The number of passengers at the US airport exceeded 1 million per day for 12 consecutive days for a total of 17 days in March Transportation Security Administration scan statistics.Passenger controls, which exceeded 2 million a day before the pandemic, fell below 90,000 in April and didn’t hit the 1 million mark again until mid-October.
Spring break surge:: Millions fly on board in March
King noted that, like all airlines, Southwest continues to have “physical distance” reminders at the airport and that passengers are required to wear masks at the airport and on their planes.
Not to deny that. I guess I was just sad to see boarding for groups of 10. Although it was temporary, it felt like an improvement. Still #luv#swa 🙂 🙂
– Benjamin Swanson (@mandbswanson) March 23, 2021
The country’s largest domestic airline isn’t the first airline to resort to pre-pandemic boarding procedures. In early March, JetBlue stopped boarding passengers from back to front and resumed boarding traditional boarding procedures according to groups.
“We are continuing to work within the public health guidelines and are receiving clinical advice from our own medical experts to ensure that we are doing everything we can to keep our customers safe during this next phase of our ‘new regular’ JetBlue spokesman Derek Dombrowski and crew members said in a statement, “Using these resources as a guide, we return to our grouped boarding process.”
United and Delta still have pandemic boarding guidelines. American Airlines never changed its boarding procedure.
The boarding changes follow efforts by most airlines to stop blocking the center seats, a policy that was popular at the start of the pandemic. southwest stopped blocking the center seats on December 1st.
Delta Air Lines is the only airline that is still restricting seat sales in Economy Class. This policy is in effect through April 30th.
Southwest Airlines changed its boarding procedures last year to encourage social distancing during the pandemic. Boarding took place in groups of 10 instead of 30 people. On March 15, 2021, the airline returned to its traditional boarding. (Photo: Dawn Gilbertson, USA TODAY)
Social distancing was a struggle for airlines during the pandemic, especially when travel resumed and crowds gathered at check-in, gate and plane aisles despite reminders to spread out.
The scheduling was particularly chaotic. The passengers got up as soon as the plane was parked at the gate.
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