FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – South Florida’s airports remain virtually empty. You won’t find many travelers at the terminals.
But people are itching to travel, and the airlines are reminding customers that the time will come to continue flying.
“We do have clients that are still looking forward to traveling as soon as they can,” says Grace DeVita, who owns the travel agency Post Haste Travel in Hollywood.
Naturally, that’s something you can expect as people go stir crazy at home.
But right now, when it comes to airline travel, DeVita says its a wait-and-see mode.
“This is a long-term process,” she said. “Especially with international travel, its really going to depend on what each country does.”
That has not stopped airlines from reminding customers that travel will return in a post-pandemic world. JetBlue sent out an email highlighting the dates of Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.
A clip of a nearly full American Airlines flight from New York to North Carolina over the weekend raised some eyebrows online.
“It was shocking to say the least,” passenger Erin Strine said. “It was the first time I felt unsafe.”
American says that starting Friday it will start offering masks to passengers.
JetBlue is going a step further, becoming the first major U.S. airline to require all customers to wear face coverings during travel.
American, United, JetBlue and Delta are also mandating masks for flight attendants, and associations that represent flight attendants want passengers to follow suit.
“From the airport door to the airplane door on the airplane, and then back out through the airport, we want people wearing face coverings in all those areas,” said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants.