Page 26 - bon dia aruba 20200627

A26 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 27 June 2020
American Airlines will book flights to full capacity

By DAVID KOENIG writes a blog called Cranky
AP Airlines Writer Flier, said American prob-
DALLAS (AP) — American ably has data to back up
Airlines will start booking its decision from a business
flights to full capacity next perspective.
week, ending any effort "If they are making this
to promote social distanc- change to sell every seat,
ing on its planes while the then they know that peo-
United States sets records ple talk a lot" about prefer-
for new reported cases of ring empty middle seats,
the coronavirus. "but in the end they will still
American's move matches fly if the price is right," Sny-
the policy of United Airlines der said.
but contrasts sharply with Since April, American of-
rivals that limit bookings fered to rebook people
to create space between whose flights might be full,
passengers to minimize the but only about 4% of pas-
risk of contagion. sengers have taken that
American said Friday that it option, according to the
will continue to notify cus- airline.
tomers if their flight is likely Snyder said most people fly-
to be full, and let them ing now are leisure travelers
change flights at no extra who have decided that it's
cost. The airline said it will an acceptable risk. He said
also let passengers change rules on face masks, extra
seats on the plane if there is cleaning measures, and
room and if they stay in the high-efficiency air-filtration
same cabin. systems make planes "a
Since April, American has relatively safe place."
limited bookings to about Airlines have been dev-
85% of a plane's capacity astated by the pandem-
by leaving about half the In this March 31, 2020 file photo American Airlines planes are parked at Pittsburgh International ic, as travel dropped by
middle seats open. Howev- Airport in Imperial, Pa. about 95% at its low point
er, the airline will start selling Associated Press in April. Since then, traf-
every seat it can beginning about 67%, both through passenger in an adjoining economy. fic has picked up slightly
next Wednesday. Sept. 30. JetBlue says it will seat. The airline announced the — the number of people
Delta says it is capping leave middle seats empty United, Spirit Airlines and change deep into a press passing through security
seats at about 60% of ca- through July 31 unless the now American, however, release that was mostly checkpoints at U.S. airports
pacity and Southwest at person is traveling with a are taking a different ap- devoted to measures it is on Thursday was 77% lower
proach, arguing that other taking to clean planes and than the comparable day
steps — including stepped- kill the virus. a year ago.
Police solve case of girl up cleaning procedures "As more people con- American Airlines spokes-
abducted, raped, killed in 1982 and requiring all passen- tinue to travel, customers man Ross Feinstein said the
may notice that flights are airline has been consider-
gers to wear face cover-
ings — eliminate the need booked to capacity start- ing booking to full capacity
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A nearly four-decade-old to block some seats. United ing July 1," American said. for a few weeks as passen-
cold case involving the abduction, rape and murder CEO Scott Kirby has said so- Starting Tuesday, American ger numbers have risen. On
of an 8-year-old girl was pronounced closed Friday cial distancing is impossible will ask passengers to con- Monday, American's traf-
when Columbus police said a new genealogical test- on planes anyway; that firm that they haven't had fic was the highest since
ing technique identified the girl's killer. even with empty middle COVID-19 symptoms in the March, he said.
For years, police sought clues in the death of Kelly seats, people are less than previous 14 days. Airlines have struggled to
Prosser, abducted while walking home from a Colum- six feet away from each Henry Harteveldt, a travel balance concern about
bus elementary school on Sept. 20, 1982. Her body other. analyst with Atmosphere safety during the pan-
was found in a Madison County cornfield two days Photos and videos of full Research Group, said demic with their need to
later. flights on American and American "is clearly putting sell tickets. Airline revenue
Detectives began working with a genealogy com- United have drawn criti- its profitability ahead" of has plummeted since early
pany in the past few months to use DNA from the cism for their lack of social the health of both passen- March, forcing the carriers
crime scene to identify the suspect. After establish- distancing. gers and its own employ- to rely on billions in federal
ing a family tree, police interviewed family members The number of confirmed ees. aid and private borrowing
and determined that Harold Warren Jarrell was Kelly's new COVID-19 infections in "Packing an airplane 100% to survive until travel recov-
killer. the U.S. hit an all-time high full without health testing ers, which might not hap-
Jarrell died in Las Vegas in 1996 at 67. Jarrell was con- of 40,000 on Friday, eclips- in place is a risky business pen until there is a vaccine.
victed of a similar abduction in Columbus in 1977 but ing a record set on April 24, decision. If someone con- Frontier Airlines tried to
no evidence tied him to Prosser's case, police said. according to Johns Hop- tracts the COVID-19 virus charge passengers extra
"It is satisfying to let the family know what happened kins University. on a 100% full plane, they're to guarantee they would
to their little girl though it doesn't bring her back," said American is based in Fort going to sue American Air- be next to an empty mid-
Det. Dana Croom of the police department's Cold Worth, Texas, where Gov. lines," Harteveldt said. "Just dle seat. The budget airline
Case Unit. Greg Abbott on Friday because another airline is was forced to retreat last
The technique known as genetic genealogy testing rolled back some steps the doing it doesn't mean it's month amid accusations
and research has solved a number of high-profile state had taken just two the right business decision." that it was trying to profit
cold cases nationally in recent years, including Cali- months ago in an aggres- But another expert, travel from people's fear of con-
fornia's so-called Golden State Killer.q
sive attempt to re-open its agent Brett Snyder, who tracting a deadly virus.q