Any one who flies on a packed airline is a fucking idiot.

[shockey80]

That is actually happening. How in the hell do people think this virus spread around the world in days. People don't understand our world, our way have life has changed. Airlines are fucked, that's the truth. Find another way to travel, to do business, because that is now reality.

Maybe, airlines could fly at 25% capacity, which would keep people separated. But airlines would lose money doing it. People would have to pay a lot more for tickets in order for the airlines to turn a profit.

[Squinch]

1. Or a very pitiable person with no choice, for whatever reason.

[FakeNoose]

2. Safer on an Amtrak train

Seriously, the passenger trains are still running regularly and they are less than half full. I feel sorry for people who have to travel for work - for example doctors, nurses and other medical personnel are being shuffled across the country. But why should they be required to fly, if it's such a risk to their safety? Better to take the train, or even better, rent a car and drive.

[MineralMan]

3. From the news stories, the passengers were not aware

that the flight was full. How are you supposed to know that?

Some people must travel, for various reasons. Many are returning to their homes. Others are going places for emergency reasons. Others are dealing with dead or dying relatives.

People who need to travel are not "fucking idiots." They are just people who need to get somewhere by air.

Don't blame the passengers, please.

[shockey80]

6. If you get on a packed airplane to visit a dying relative.

You may die with them.

[MineralMan]

9. Yes, that's obviously true.

However, it is not the passengers who are at fault. They are not getting the information they need from the airlines, which are doing their usual thing by packing fewer planes with more passengers.

It's not the passengers who are to blame. They have a need to go somewhere. The airlines are not making that travel as safe as it should be, quite obviously.

Since I have living parents who are 95 years old and live 2000 miles away, this is a subject of some concern for me. I am the executor of their estate, and will have to fly out to California if there is a need for me to do so. If the airlines don't make it possible for me to do so safely, I will be in a very bad situation for which there is no good answer.

So, this subject is of direct concern for me.

My issue is that you are blaming the wrong people in your original post, and doing so harshly and obscenely. Those passengers are not "fucking idiots." They are people who need to get somewhere safely.

Please redirect your blame more appropriately.

[GemDigger]

17. I suppose people could be a cold hearted prick and leave thier mother, son, etc to die alone.

That sounds preferable.

[Yavin4]

13. You're correct. The airlines should not be allowed to book full flights.

Greedy bastards.

[MineralMan]

14. Well, they sure got some bad publicity from that flight.

I expect they will change their plans and at least leave middle seats open and alternate rows for two-wide seating. I hope so, anyhow. Accommodations need to be made.

Meanwhile, I keep getting announcements from airlines about really, really cheap flights. Weird.

[genxlib]

4. It's all about the odds

In a Country where we have a million+ active cases, there is a very high chance that at least one person on that flight is contagious.

In a future where active cases are diminished, those odds will go down significantly.

How low they need to go before a person should fly is a personal choice. There will come a threshold where those risks are lower than the risk of driving the same trip. Assuming of course the trip needs to be made.

The airlines are in for a lot of pain. Some will go bankrupt while others will shrink. Within the next 18 months, the size of the industry will stabilize to match the size of the traveling public. My guess is that there will not be a return to the numbers of travelers for at least 5 years and more likely 10. That is only partly due to fear. The other major factors will be economic factors and the business environment having learned that online meetings can work instead of being physically present.

The company that I think is cooked is Boeing. They were already in trouble having continued production for a plane that nobody would use. Now they have a tremendous backlog that they need to sell to an industry that has more planes than they need. Even if airlines need to replace a few older planes here and there, they seem perfectly content to use Airbus planes that don't crash themselves.

[pnwest]

5. mmm, back off that fucking idiot

assertion a scoche there, homie. When I get the call that my mother has passed, I’ll fly on a completely packed flight if I have to. And while I might be an idiot, I’m not a fucking idiot.

[Wawannabe]

8. Beat me to this!

I am seeing more and more blanket statements of this nature. ...from armchair writers... it needs to STOP!

NO ONE should be doing this on DU.
We are better than that.

[superpatriotman]

7. But I couldn't miss my cruise!

Nt

[Thyla]

10. Not that I'm going anywhere soon but...

...believe me if I had another way to travel back to Australia I would snap your arm off and take it even without this virus but there is no viable other method.
Cruise ships? lol Yeah, no thanks!

Just going to have to wait out a vaccine really.

[JackintheGreen]

11. 16 days ago I was stuck in Pakistan

The US diplomatic core arranged an evacuation flight that got me back to the US. The continuing flight from IAD to the next hub was full.

You have no idea why any individual is flying. You don’t know their circumstances or their reasons for travel.

I know you meant no ill by you comment, but it’s none of your fucking business.

Now, that’s not to say air travel shouldn’t be much more regulated - having recently traveled it abso-fucking-lutely should be - but I’d rather take that risk than the risk of dying alone in a foreign country that is not at all equipped for this.

[MenloParque]

12. Ok Karen

I did not want to fly to Austin, Texas yesterday morning but my essential work required required me to do so. Its cool dawg you can sit in your basement and call people fucking idiots while this bad ass bitch takes care of shit. All while wearing PPEs and all that shit.

[MiniMe]

15. Say goodbye to relatively cheap airfares!

[uponit7771]

16. Someone should have gotten up and got off that plane