^^I believe both Alaska and Delta are blocking off the middle seats. You can still get a good sense of how full a flight is by looking at the available seat map.
Exactly what I meant. 
Thats what I was thinking, except the gate still keeps some seats under their control, so its just a close approximation. And now with seats being blocked off- how will they show that?
It was my understanding that while airlines would block the middle seat from bookings, if a family decided to select the middle seat, in order to sit together, that would be fine. Of course I guess that means if there were only two of you, the aisle or window would be book by someone else. If just my husband and I, I would select the aisle and window, then we would have the middle seat free.
For those asking about SW: Info from agents appear hit or miss. One would not (or could not)share numbers. They said even they didn’t know totals. Another was able to share sold tickets, although as mentioned above, this might change due to cancellations. But it was far from the nearly empty planes I was hearing (and hoping for) from others. .So many planes have been grounded, there are far fewer choices from last month.
CEO was interviewed on CBS. He explained how they were sanitizing planes. Reporter quickly reminded him that ends as soon as passengers board. CEO added they are relying on passengers to self regulate. Does not instill confidence. That’s one thing in a grocery store, when you can leave or space yourself. Impossible on a plane. I think airlines need to do even more, but understand they have to survive too, and without selling only 1/3 tickets, not sure what else can be done. Required masks are a must IMHO.
Problem with determining counts on other airlines is that the cheaper tickets do not come with seat assignments. There could be a lot more tickets sold than it appears from seating charts. Plus some or all airlines are blocking out first and last rows for the safety of flight attendants during flights.
Available seat map can only give an indication of occupancy and certainly won’t be completely accurate at boarding time. There’re almost always standbys and last minute ticket purchasers, but their numbers are limited, and probably more so these days.
On at least some airlines, seats that are not allowed to be reserved ahead of time may appear the same as occupied when looking at the seat map. Pre-virus, it was often the case that a flight could have tickets for sale, but the seat map showed every seat “occupied” because some empty seats were not allowed to be reserved ahead of time. Of course, the fact that that was “normal” also allowed airlines to hide the fact that they were overbooking based on the expected number of no-shows.
I just lost two hours of my life on hold with Delta Airlines…listening to bad music.
But we were fully refunded for our graduation trip to Atlanta to the tune of almost $800 for two tickets. Got the email confirmation of the refund.
Small glitch in that they are required to refund to the credit card the flights were charged to. Of course that one was hacked about a week after we bought these tickets in November. But everyone says the refund should roll over to the new “number” they issued. Of course, we will watch like hawks for that!
Cancelled the hotel reservation as well.
Now…just really hoping our Denver wedding in August happens…
Anyone else worried that an airline will go out of business?. S just bought a ticket to see his sister at Christmas on United Airlines. They seem the weakest financially of all of them. (No wonder he got such a good fare). I am worried that they will stop flying entirely and he will be out his money.
^I wouldn’t worry about it. Almost all the major airlines have gone into and out of bankruptcies before. And they restructured and kept flying.
Airlines are regulated. They’ll likely have to honor sold tickets before they pay their creditors.
We have a neighbor who is a United employee. She is in the top 25% for seniority in her position. She says it’s very possible she won’t have a job at all on October 1. She is on furlough until July 1.
We are supposed to fly the friendly skies in August…it’s the only non-stop from our city to our destination each day. We sure hope it can happen.
I have a wedding invitation for early September that is on hold. I’d love to go but I’m not making any plans yet.
Another one, for mid June, and I had only gotten a save the date card a few months ago. An invite arrived today! Just seems so risky. It’s in a small city so I’d have to change planes at least once. Don’t think I’m ready for that.
We have a bike trip planned for October in Vermont, and we are hoping to go.
We have a wedding we plan to attend in November, and we are hoping that will happen also. Both are drivable for us, so we will likely go assuming we are healthy and it seems appropriate as it gets closer.
I just booked a week at a VRBO in TN. I may have to come back to OH and quarantine for 2 weeks, but that won’t be difficult. It’s over 7 hours away and I don’t like the looks of that “pee” device. I’m thinking of wearing a dress and Depends, and hoping trash cans are available near the road. I can’t believe we are talking about this.?♀️
As an FYI all the rest stops we passed today had their bathrooms open and spotless. Much cleaner than usual.
Big surprise for us was that once we got out of IL, no one was wearing masks. We were told they don’t need to start until their states start to reopen next week (this was IN and KY).
I have found that rest areas have been open whenever we’ve had to stop.
My son and his wife had to take a trip across Ohio to rescue her parents cat and found all of the stops on the Ohio turnpike open.
I would check but I would be surprised if rest stops from Ohio to Tennessee are closed. Truck drivers have to keep our supply chain going, they are keeping rest areas open for the trucks.
PA tried to close the rest areas and opened them very shortly afterwards because the trucks needed them.
I would rather use Depends and hand sanitizer than go into a public restroom. But that’s just me. Of course, I’ve never used Depends, so I might change my mind after my first use.
Guess we can pretend that we are training for a trip to the Moon (instead of Memory Care) - ?
Daughter of a friend of ours just drove 14 hours from Los Angeles to Colorado. Says there were plenty cars on the road, actual traffic around LA and Las Vegas, there were clean and open rest stops along the way. She went to the bathroom in gas stations.
In all she said it was as if there were no COVID at all… status quo from Los Angeles to Vail.
Although things seem to be improving, travel is definitely risky right now and I think it’s important that we continue social distancing so we can all stay a bit safer. Hang in there!