So long, social distancing: Southwest Airlines resumes pre-pandemic boarding

From USA Today 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2021/03/23/southwest-airlines-discontinues-covid-travel-boarding-policy-social-distancing/6967177002/

Well, crap!!!  There goes the more peaceful boarding.  Thanks for sharing. 

Dang.  I guess we got in on the last "boarding in groups of 10" a couple weeks ago.  It was so much less stressful.  I had even sent a note (complimentary) to SWA in that regard.  I didn't check the box that said I needed a reply, so I didn't get one.  BTW, both flights (full) departed perfectly on time under the peaceful boarding rule.  Not as if peaceful boarding created late departures.  The opposite was true.

Well, now I'll up my campaign for hotels to stay with the "max 4 people to an elevator."  So much better.  You didn't have folks running to stick their foot in to keep your elevator doors from closing, crowding in with all their luggage and shopping bags.  People were very respectful of that policy, to my surprise and delight.

Candy

This perfectly illustrates the hypocrisy in all the prattle about "our first concern is your safety" in companies' advertising. Their first concern is actually making money, and the instant that covid safety procedure mandates are relaxed, they'll react by making everything less safe.

I still think it's utterly foolhardy to travel in a full plane, even if they DO mega-nuclear-sanitize all the air or whatever they claim to do. The people near me exhale droplets that get into my lungs long before any kind of filtering system sucks them in. Crowded, mass-hysteria boarding (the pre-pandemic norm) just makes that worse.

Profits over people's health. That's the way it's always been.

Who among us hasn't at least one time, pre-pandemic, arrived home "sick", i.e. new cough/cold/feeling crappy for a few days.  We guessed we got it on the flight.  It happens any time, flight or no flight, but the dots might connect, might not. 

BUT...and there is some science to this (sorry I can't cite the source right now), but there is SOMETHING that happens when we reach the upper levels of the atmosphere that can worsen a pre-existing condition.  Maybe you already have a non-Covid URI or UTI or one of those U ailments.  Or you just had dental surgery...the area starts feeling worse.  A baby's ears will fill with fluid (and the crying begins).  Fortunately, this (the worsening) is usually transient and improves when the  plane starts to descend.  

Personal story:  My husband dropped iodine in one of his eyes.  He had tranferred it to an empty Visine bottle to use on a cut or something.  A huge no no, of course, putting medicine in another container.  Painful at the time, to say the least.  Eye doc gave him something to ease the irritation, no damage, fortunately.  Of course we had a Vegas flight a few days later.  Eye was feeling OK before boarding.   But...as the plane ascended the heights, the eye started hurting worse and continued.  I was working out in my mind where the nearest urgent care might be once we arrived in Vegas.  Miraculously, as "we are starting our descent into Las Vegas" the pain began to ease, and by the time we hit the tarmac it was all better.   Our own little research study, single blind (husband, almost) placebo controlled (the other eye)...LOL.

Candy

Candy, what you're describing is basically altitude sickness. Aircraft cabins are pressurized, but not to sea level. "Cabin altitude" is usually about 8,000 feet. That's not hazardous or unhealthy, but it is enough to make some people feel temporarily uncomfortable. Oxygen levels would be the same as at, say, a Rockies ski resort.

I read a study conducted some time ago (so long, that the planes in question were 707s and DC-9s) that measured oxygen levels in cruising-altitude pressurized aircraft cabins. They ranged from 15% to 17%, while sea level is 21%. The study stated that there could be dangers to people with cardiac, pulmonary, and hematological diseases. Of course, the bodies of people who live or spend a significant amount of time at higher altitudes adjust in various ways, such as increasing red blood cell counts.

So aside from catching someone's bug, feeling kinda crappy after a several-hour flight is pretty normal. I don't know the exact sundry mechanisms, but I can certainly imagine something a little bit wrong (such as a recovering dental surgery) feeling that much worse.

It's interesting to consider the implications of (relatively) low-pressure interiors on covid transmission; probably it's less than at sea-level air pressures. I can't find any research on that, though.

I'll take the other side

We've reached the point where half the country has already had the virus or is vaccinated.   If you fall into either of those categories feel free to fly and sit next to anybody.     If you dont fall into those categories either wait to get vaccinated or roll the dice with your health.     The responsibilty should no longer be on airlines, restaurants, and theaters to babysit the population.   

We have to come to the understanding that over a quarter of the population will likely not get vaccinated by their own voluntary choice.     If we are waiting for them before we open the economy we wont ever open the economy

This is amazing, but I think that, this will be a little awkward, I guess?? For some reason we all have missed how life was pre-pandemic. Now that there are vaccines, it's actually better since we know that there is a chance to be protected from the virus. However, I think that we all have grown used to keeping a distance from people whom we may not know personally. Also, in planes, will it be guaranteed that all passengers are vaccinated? If so, then I might have to agree with this. If not, then I'll still prefer being socially distanced.