Low Tech Ways To Make People More Comfortable To Fly

When will customers be ready to start flying regularly again? That’s a question plaguing the airline industry and its answer will help determine if and when the industry will start to recover from the precipitous loss of traffic due to the Coronavirus.

Having a vaccine would make everyone more comfortable about being in crowds again, but that is months away at best and maybe won’t happen at all. Having a quick test that people could take that would be reliable would also be great, but that too is uncertain to happen. So does this mean the airlines can do nothing until vaccines or tests are ready? No, there are things they can do now to help bring some traffic back.

Facial Coverings

Flight attendants can cover their faces and airlines can give coverings to all customers who don’t bring them. They could even put their logo on them and get some free advertising if people wore them elsewhere. By the time you read this, I expect that other airlines will have matched JetBlue’s lead in requiring passengers to cover their face while onboard. The costs for this is small and the airport and boarding process would take no longer or be unruly. I also expect that this will become part of the “new normal” after the Coronavirus risk is long gone.

Disinfectant Wipes

Airlines clean their planes today and can do more of this, but handing a wipe to everyone who wants it as they board to wipe down the tray table and arm rest will help ensure that the surfaces most likely to be touched onboard are cleaned as the person sits down. This also gives the customer some control over their own environment.

Explain the Air

Air circulation in an airplane is vertical, not horizontal. Air comes in from the top and flows down the sidewalls to the bottom. If someone coughs two rows behind you, certainly some droplets may float your way but the air in the plane won’t be delivering it to you. In this way, the plane has a better circulation system than most restaurants and office buildings. Making this clear to customers with handouts, in a video, in announcements, or similar low-tech ways could help to give customers a better sense of the risks they take and how those can be measured against other things they do.

Distancing with Limits

An airplane is not designed for physical distancing. The fixed size of the tube holds seats, and fewer seats means everyone pays more for the costs to run the flight. But until there is demand to buy every seat, airlines can seat customers with the distances possible given the seat layouts. Blocking middle seats in the long run makes no sense, as even with this others are still much closer than distancing norms suggest.

Revise Sick Passenger Policies

A passenger who is sick should be able to change their flight without financial penalty, rather than feel forced to fly less face a penalty. Today this is likely given the hightened sensitivity, but over time this should become a regular policy. Just like we don’t want workers who are sick to come to the office, we don’t want sick people to be in the airplane either and certainly should not penalize them for changing a flight to keep everyone safe.

Until a vaccine is ready, or a real and practical test can ensure everyone boarding is not infected, these simple to implement ideas can make everyone flying safer and start to pull the industry out of its demand trough.