Touchless check-ins and face masks? How air travel could look after COVID-19 pandemic
Coronavirus could shake up air travel, even after the pandemic ends.
Airlines have considered measures to help reduce the spread of the disease, and some of them could stick around, travel experts say.
What should you expect at the airport?
New screening steps could force travelers to spend four hours at airports before their flights take off, according to a model from SimpliFlying, a marketing company.
Inside airports, devices could help stop the spread of germs and limit interactions between travelers and airline staff, experts say.
“There will be new protocols for check-in involving digital technology; hand (sanitizer) stations at frequent points including where luggage is stored; contactless payment instead of cash; using stairs more often than” elevators, The World Travel & Tourism Council said in its predictions about travel’s “new normal.”
Last month, United Airlines said it would “start testing touchless kiosks for printing bag tags and checking bags, eliminating the need to touch the screen.”
There’s also the potential that airports will conduct screenings to make sure passengers are healthy before boarding their planes, according to “The Rise of Sanitized Travel,” a report from SimpliFlying.
Last week, Frontier Airlines was the first U.S. carrier to announce plans to check temperatures of everyone who travels on its flights.
What could happen in the air?
Some measures could continue on the plane, where the World Travel & Tourism Council thinks face masks and disinfecting are on the horizon.
Several U.S. airlines have already required passengers to wear face coverings and have spread out passengers in the age of social distancing.
But having extra room may not last forever, Courtney Miller told the Harvard Business Review.
“An airline could absolutely block the middle seat, but then you have a third of the airplane empty,” Miller, managing director of analysis for The Air Current media company, told the magazine. “You automatically limit your load factor to 66%.”
Alan Lewis of L.E.K. Consulting said other new possibilities could include “touchless seats that connect to Bluetooth on your phone to lower your seat back or fold out your tray; touchless lavatories; more regimented boarding procedures so people aren’t falling over each other in the aisles,” according to the Harvard Business Review.
Aviointeriors, an Italian company, has proposed backward-facing middle seats and shields to separate passengers, Boston Globe Media reported.
How could booking change?
COVID-19 has upended travel, with 77% of adults reporting they intended to change their trip plans due to the pandemic, according to a Longwoods International survey published Tuesday.
The Transportation Security Administration, which screens at airport checkpoints, reported 163,205 travelers on Tuesday, down from 2.1 million a year ago.
But experts say “travel will rebound,” as it did after the 9/11 attacks and the Great Recession, according to Insider.
For those considering travel, there’s potential for more flexibility in the future, news outlets report. During the pandemic, airlines have already waived rebooking costs.
“I would not be surprised if there are some changes to the sort of structure of those change and cancellation fees,” Scott Keyes, founder and chief flight expert at Scott’s Cheap Flights, told Insider. “That certainly didn’t happen before the outbreak, and probably wouldn’t have happened without it.”
This story was originally published May 13, 2020 at 11:17 AM with the headline "Touchless check-ins and face masks? How air travel could look after COVID-19 pandemic."
