Most people would probably have to go back to their Pre-K days to remember the last time they were required to raise their hand and ask to go to the bathroom. Well, one airline, European budget carrier Ryanair, is doing just that — asking passengers to raise their hands and get permission from a flight attendant before being allowed to leave their seats and head to the loo.
Ryanair, which at one time contemplated charging customers to use onboard washrooms, says asking passengers to raise their hands will help eliminate congestion in the aisles and contain the spread of COVID-19 and other viruses.
Other airlines are taking a more scientific approach to the issue of limiting their passengers’ exposure to the killer virus. For instance:

Above: Some airlines are adding janitors to their flight crews to make sure surfaces are continually wiped down in flight.

• Some carriers have added “janitors” to their flight crews to wipe down surfaces while the plane is in the air to ease passengers’ fears;
• Other airlines are asking travellers to produce “immunity passports” that indicate they’ve had a negative COVID test within 36 hours of their flight;
• Dubai-based Emirates has introduced “rapid” blood tests at departure gates that produce results in just 10 minutes;
•  Air Canada is partnering with Shoppers Drug Mart stores to test passengers before flights;
•  Cabin comforts like pillows and blankets are being eliminated by most airlines;
• Many carriers have announced they will suspend catering for short-haul flights while services for long-haul flights will be drastically reduced;
• Regular disinfectant fogging of cabins during flights is now commonplace;
• Some major airlines continue to block the middle seat but that’s not a viable option long term because it would slash a carrier’s max load to 62 per cent, well below their 77 per cent break even level;
• And, expect restrictions on hand luggage going forward.
All this is being done in the name of health safety and will continue post-pandemic and to reassure passengers that flying can be done safely.
Flying in the time of COVID has already been deemed safe, thanks to tests United Airlines conducted in August with the U.S. Department of Defence (DOD).
The DOD’s test, in which more than 300 aerosol releases, simulating a passenger infected with COVID-19, were performed over eight days using United’s popular Boeing 767-300 and 777-200 twin-aisle aircraft.
The tests concluded that “the overall exposure risk from aerosolized pathogens, like coronavirus, is very low” on aircraft.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) supports the DOD’s findings and claims “most viruses and other germs do not spread easily on flights because of how air circulates and is filtered on airplanes.”

Above: Passengers can expect carry on restrictions and the middle seats won't stay empty for long, but you'll be able to bring more hand sanitizer aboard planes.

“When the ventilation system is running, the air moves from the ceiling to the floor, and the entire volume of air is replaced approximately every three minutes,” according to Molly Hyde, a CDC board-certified expert and infection control practitioner.
Still, airlines, who have lost an estimated $250 billion (U.S.) globally since the outbreak of COVID, know the flying public, 75 per cent of whom are still resisting returning to the skies at press time, will need to do much more bolstering.
So, major carriers like United and Air Canada are pulling out all the stops by partnering with well-regarded health institutions like the Cleveland Clinic to make the environment in their planes as COVID-free as possible.
In United’s case, besides partnering with Cleveland Clinic on cleaning protocols, the airline is also teaming up with cleaning products giant Clorox to develop a “CleanPlus” program that will redefine the carrier’s cleaning procedures, both on planes as well as in lounges, at boarding gates and all the airports in which they operate.
The pandemic has brought cleanliness and hygiene standards to the forefront and United is trying to ease customers’ concerns by:
• Installing sneeze guards at check-in and gate podiums;
• Increasing the size of liquid hand sanitizer a customer can take on board — up to 12oz from 3oz;
• Introducing touch-less check-in for customers with bags;
• Disinfecting customer touch points and surfaces before every flight;
• Boarding fewer customers at a time and boarding them from the back of the plane to the front — a routine that’s long overdue, in my opinion;
• Deplaning in groups of five rows at a time to ease crowding;
• Allowing customers to self-scan boarding passes — something European airlines have been doing for some time now;
• Moving to primarily pre-packaged foods and cover tray set ups;
• Using state-of-the-art, hospital grade, high efficiency (HEPA) filters on all their planes that reportedly remove up to 99.7% of airborne particles;
• Mandating face coverings for all travellers and flight crew;
• And implementing electrostatic spraying on all inbound long-haul international flights.
United is also making changes to its refund, cancellation and change fee policies, a real bone of contention with many passengers who were issued travel credits instead of refunds by most major   airlines.
The reason global airlines are pulling out all the stops is because they are desperate to recover the confidence of the travelling public and recoup some of the historic losses they've endured since March 2020.
Passengers will be lured with promises of cleaner, safer planes and lots of cheap airfares once the pandemic is brought under control. And they’d better enjoy it because the days of airfare reductions, the kind we’ve enjoyed over the past few decades, "is about to come to an end," according to Alexandre de Juniac, director general and CEO of industry watchdog IATA.
“Fewer planes, fewer people flying and lower load factors all suggest airlines will need to maintain higher fare prices,” another industry source told CNN Business.
Until then, though, let’s enjoy the friendly skies that United and other airlines are offering us.