Senator wants to ban middle seats on flights

One day after American Airlines resumed booking flights to capacity, ending its effort to cap the number of passengers on board in response to the pandemic, Sen. Jeff Merkley, DOre., experienced the policy change firsthand.

Instead of finding his connecting flight to Texas mostly empty, as he had flying American recently, Merkley saw passengers shoulder to shoulder.

“They’re breathing inches from your own nose and mouth, they’re taking off their mask to eat or to drink,” Merkley told The

Washington Post. “It feels like a pretty high-risk situation.”

Merkley, wary of contracting the coronavirus en route to his Oregon home where his mother lives in hospice, tweeted a selfie showing the lack of social distancing on his flight and called the airline “incredibly irresponsible.”

Many Twitter users replied with outrage against American Airlines, and some questioned why members of the government like Merkley couldn’t do something about the issue. A day later, the senator announced on Twitter that he would introduce a bill to ban the sale of middle seats through the coronavirus pandemic.

“These airlines are only flying because we’re subsidizing them, because we think they’re essential,” Merkley said. “If they’re essential, then we should do everything we can to make them safe for the people who are using them.”

In response to Merkley’s tweet, American Airlines shared a statement with The Post last week that said: “We have multiple layers of protection in place for those who fly with us, including required face coverings, enhanced cleaning procedures, and a preflight COVID-19 symptom checklist - and we’re providing additional flexibility for customers to change their travel plans, as well.” On the topic of the middle seat bill specifically, they referred questions to Airlines for America, a trade association representing most of the country’s major airlines, including American. Katherine Estep, the group’s communications director, said in an emailed statement.