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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI Just Flew. It Was Worse Than I Thought It Would Be.
The surreal experience of flying during a pandemic, and the false promise of a return to normal
MCKAY COPPINS
5:00 AM ET
The cabin was restless. It was a weekday afternoon in late April, and I was among dozens of people boarding an airplane that most of us had assumed would be empty. Flight attendants were scrambling to accommodate seat-change requests. Travelersstuffed shoulder to shoulder into two-seat rowsgrumbled at one another from behind masks. An ominous announcement came over the in-flight PA system: We apologize for the alarming amount of passengers on this flight. Each of us was a potential vector of deadly disease.
I arrived at my assigned row, and found a stocky, gray-haired man in the seat next to mine. When I moved to sit down, he stopped me. Sit there, he said gruffly, pointing to the aisle behind us. Social distance.
Not eager for a confrontation, I decided to comply. Within seconds, though, a flight attendant materialized and ordered me back to my assigned seat. My recalcitrant would-be seatmate, vigorously objecting to this development, responded by blocking my entrance to the row with his leg.
A standoff ensued, with the irate passenger protesting that there were plenty of empty rows where I could sit (there werent) and the long-suffering flight attendant all but threatening to kick him off the plane (she didnt). Finally, he relented and I squeezed awkwardly into my seat as the man muttered profanities under his breath.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/05/is-flying-safe-coronavirus/611335/
musette_sf
(10,184 posts)for referring to DCA as Washington National Airport.
I never, EVER call it by its latter-day revisionist name.
turbinetree
(24,632 posts)crickets
(25,896 posts)phylny
(8,353 posts)It was ALREADY named for a president. No need for the rename.
Baclava
(12,047 posts)crickets
(25,896 posts)You know most of them weren't washing their hands that fervently a couple of months ago...