Of all the safety steps airlines are taking to lure travelers back onto their planes in the coronvirus era, the empty middle seat is the most alluring.
But passengers shouldn't get too giddy about the extra space, experts and some airline executives say, because it won't last forever. It all comes down to money. Airlines make money when they fill a certain percentage of seats, and leaving middle seats empty means they'll have to charge more for the remaining seats.
In North America, filling just two-thirds of the plane by keeping middle seats empty would boost the average ticket price by 43%, from $202 to $289, based on 2019 figures, IATA says. Airlines in the region need to fill three-fourths of their seats to break even, the group says. "I'm not willing to accept yet that the flight experience is forevermore changed,'' he told Wall Street analysts and reporters in late April.
Grant said he expected some airlines to offer empty middle seats for a fee, as Frontier Airlines proposed this week but quickly withdrew due to criticism that it was profiteering. But he said that practice, too, will fade when travel demand returns because the airline could get more by selling another ticket than it could from the fees paid by the passenger in the window or aisle seat.
Here's why (tl:dr)... money.
Selective SocialDistancing
If the guy in the filled seat is sick. The empty middle seat won't make a bit of difference.
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