Welcome to the eleventh episode of the Travel Well with Allan Wright!
In this week’s episode, Allan provides an update on which airlines are safest to travel with and what he thinks is critical to allowing Americans to travel more freely again.
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Can’t watch the video right now? Here’s the video transcript of Airline Travel Update – Episode 11:
Hi, this is Allan Wright. Welcome to the Travel Well with Allan video update. Today, I’d like to review airline travel.
We all know that safety is critical on airlines and two components about that are mask wearing social distancing on an airline. All U.S airlines are requiring passengers to wear masks and not allowing anybody to fly without them. T
That’s great, however, the social distancing is different by airline and that requires blocking middle seats. Major airlines like United and American are not blocking any middle seats at this point.
Other airlines like Alaska have said they’re blocking middle seats through October 31st but if you read the fine print on their website, it does say they might put people in middle seats if they’re being bumped from previous flights.
Delta is taking the lead. They are blocking all middle seats through January 6 and I think that should be a consideration when you choose an airline right now.
Travel is returning but it’s slow as of yesterday travel was only at 28% of the level it was on the equivalent day last year. That means airlines are still hurting and, in fact, airlines are being propped up right now by our government and that aid which is keeping all their employees employed ends on September 30th. As of October 1st, if we don’t see any renewal of that aid there will be massive layoffs.
All the major airlines have announced layoffs are coming. American just announced 19,000 so I think we could easily see a 1000,000 people laid off from airlines within two months if nothing changes.
We need something good to happen and I’ve been saying for a long time now that something is not a solution to the coronavirus, it’s not a vaccine. What it is is accurate fast testing. If we could have a test that’s accurate and could be returned in 15 minutes then all airports could require everyone before going through security to be tested and cleared. That would make a huge difference because you would feel comfortable flying and other countries would feel comfortable letting Americans in again. So that is what I’m looking for in the future.
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First, thank you for the update video.
I too am a big proponent of rapid testing, and I agree that it would solve a great deal regarding the travel industry getting on its way back toward vibrancy. However, any plan needs to include a well-thought plan for those that test positive with the rapid tests. Such a result would interrupt / cancel all of their travel plans. Would airlines be open to last-minute refunds? Same question for hotels in destinations where the travelers were heading.
With a serious consideration of all test outcomes, then yes, I think rapid test could be a crucial factor in moving on in a way that serves both the industry and travelers.
We certainly agree. A good outcome for both travelers and the industry would be for the airlines/hotels/etc to credit the person who has tested positive to be able to use it at a later date but even being months into the pandemic, not all companies are on the same page. At Zephyr, if you cancel your reservation/end up testing positive before your trip, you can apply all payments made to another Adventure, less any fixed costs we have incurred.