JUDY WOODRUFF: There are troubles in the skies.
Major airlines are sending out warnings about
huge losses. And they are making pleas for
help in a big way.
Tens of thousands of flights are canceled
for the fall. Plus, change fees are now eliminated
to attract travelers.
Paul Solman has the story for our series Making
Sense.
MAN: All these people on the plane. I didn't
get in nobody's face.
PAUL SOLMAN: Call them mask wars being waged
on tarmacs everywhere.
ALEXANDER BEJARAN ESTEVEZ, Airline Passenger:
On my last flight, there was actually a gentleman
that refused to wear a mask, and so they had
to bring in airport security.
And the person from airport security said,
like, hey, we already had this conversation
at the gate. So, the airport security took
him off the plane.
PAUL SOLMAN: As they escorted this woman off
to a sitting ovation.
No wonder so many passengers now have a fear
of flying, even Nick Ewen, an airlines journalist.
NICK EWEN, Senior Editor, The Points Guy:
I have personally not taken a flight since
March 1, and that is pretty unheard of.
PAUL SOLMAN: And if you do want to fly, like
NYU Professor Paul Glimcher:
PAUL GLIMCHER, NYU Professor: it's really
hard to imagine jumping on a plane and flying
out to NYU Shanghai, because the Chinese government
wouldn't let me go. The U.S. government wouldn't
let me come back.
(LAUGHTER)
PAUL GLIMCHER: There'd be two weeks of quarantine
at either end. I mean, it seems impossible.
PAUL SOLMAN: And thus the facts on the ground:
passenger volume down some 70 percent from
last year, about 2,000 planes in drydock,
because airlines need them to run at least
80 percent full to make money.
Former Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza:
BEN BALDANZA, Former CEO, Spirit Airlines:
If they're not going to be able to fill that
much, they're going to have to get a higher
price.
When the prices go up, many fewer people choose
to travel. And so, if airlines are going to
have to rely on a higher price point because
the planes aren't as full, there are going
to be many fewer planes in the air, because
they're not going to be able to support as
big a fleet.
PAUL SOLMAN: So the industry is faced with
an ever more pressing question: Is this the
new abnormal?
NICK EWEN: If the traveler is confident that
they are going to have a minimal risk of contracting
COVID-19 when they go to the airport and when
they get on board a plane, that's really when
we're going to see a rebound in the overall
market.
PAUL SOLMAN: Airlines are pushing new safety
measures, disinfecting assiduously, filtering
the air every few minutes. Carriers like Southwest,
JetBlue and Delta are restricting capacity.
And some passengers are flying worry-free,
like Timothy Strack.
TIMOTHY STRACK, Airline Passenger: I have
flown, approximately, I believe, nine legs,
and I have not contracted COVID. I have tested
negative consistently. And I will do it again
soon.
PAUL SOLMAN: But many more former travelers
are staying put.
HOLLY STETTLER, Nurse: It would probably be
a while before I truly felt safe. And that's
just a product of the career I'm in and the
things I have seen.
PAUL SOLMAN: Nurse Holly Stettler, who's treated
COVID patients, was disturbed that her partner's
recent flight was fully booked, American and
United Airlines opting to maximize sales on
the planes they are flying.
HOLLY STETTLER: The pilot made an announcement
that said, we have a really full, full flight
today, so if you have trouble finding overhead
bin space, let us know, which, in my opinion,
during a pandemic, there should not be any
flight that is flying that is so full that
you cannot find overhead bin space.
PAUL SOLMAN: And there are the non-mask-wearers
during this politicized pandemic.
DAVID J. HARRIS JR., Airline Passenger: For
all the people on the plane that may want
to get off because they don't feel safe, then
get the heck off. I'm staying right here.
(LAUGHTER)
PAUL SOLMAN: Some are belligerent, says Sara
Nelson of the flight attendants union, who
told us about one of her members.
SARA NELSON, President, Association Of Flight
Attendants: The passenger hit her, assaulted
her.
PAUL SOLMAN: For enforcing the mask policy?
SARA NELSON: Yes. The passenger became violent
against the flight attendant and hit her and
hurt her. And she is recovering from that
now.
PAUL SOLMAN: Nelson says the federal government
needs to impose rules and penalties to force
compliance.
SARA NELSON: There's not clear communication
about how to wear those masks, that it's necessary
to wear the mask, and that there's consequences
if you don't.
PAUL SOLMAN: Leaving the policing to the airlines
themselves, despite the fact that over 1,000
flight attendants have been infected and at
least 11 have died.
SARA NELSON: There is a picture of a man right
behind me. His name is Paul Frishkorn. And
he was the first flight attendant to die.
He was a friend of mine.
And he stays here with me while I do this
work on safety and on protecting our jobs.
PAUL SOLMAN: Jobs. Thousands of workers have
already taken buyouts, with the airlines warning
that more jobs, tens of thousands, could be
cut once $25 billion in CARES Act aid runs
out in October.
YOLANDA HUGHES, United Flight Attendant: To
just think about not being able to fly again,
it's devastating.
PAUL SOLMAN: Yolanda Hughes is a flight attendant
for United Airlines. She's kept her job and
health care for now, but has no guarantee
of hours or pay.
YOLANDA HUGHES: We don't have enough people
traveling to support the personnel that we
do have. So, we are begging the administration,
we're begging our representatives and our
congressmen to please help us.
PAUL SOLMAN: The airline, which was $17 billion
in the first half of the year, is asking for
another $25 billion in federal aid.
Pandemic relief talks have stalled in Congress,
but the president says he will support the
industry.
NICK EWEN: I think it is very likely that
we will see at least one notable bankruptcy
among the U.S. airlines.
PAUL SOLMAN: And it's not just because travelers
are afraid to fly. Many now realize they don't
have to.
Ben Baldanza isn't afraid, but he says:
BEN BALDANZA: There is some business travel
that is not going to come back, because they're
-- they will have gotten so comfortable with
the way we're talking right now...
PAUL SOLMAN: Exactly.
BEN BALDANZA: ... and how productive they
can be...
PAUL SOLMAN: Yes.
BEN BALDANZA: ... that they're just going
to say, I don't need that expense.
(COUGHING)
BEN BALDANZA: Excuse me. I'm really sorry.
PAUL SOLMAN: If I were there in person, would
you be more comfortable than you are right
now?
BEN BALDANZA: There's just more complications
about it. I mean, I coughed twice in this
call, and that didn't make you nervous. If
we'd been live, that might have made you nervous.
PAUL SOLMAN: And yet another problem, airlines
are alienating customers with their reluctance
to refund.
Sign language interpreter Betty Colonomos
has been trying to get her money back since
March.
BETTY COLONOMOS, Airline Passenger: This has
almost become a 20-hour-a-week job chasing
after these refunds, because the phone calls,
the e-mails, the waiting.
PAUL SOLMAN: But she'd purchased flight insurance.
The response to her claim?
BETTY COLONOMOS: Oh, well, we categorize coronavirus
to be something under the certain category
of we don't cover that, and blah, blah, blah.
So, I said, great. I got insurance in case
something happens. And guess what? Something
happened, but they're not owning it. So, here
I am.
(LAUGHTER)
PAUL SOLMAN: Are you flying again?
BETTY COLONOMOS: No, I am not flying, and
I have no intention of flying.
PAUL SOLMAN: And so the big question: When
will enough folks take to the skies once again?
Right now, 52 percent of travelers say they're
uncomfortable flying, like Professor Andrew
Caplin (ph) and his wife, psychotherapist
Ruth Wyatt (ph).
They had planned to go, she says:
WOMAN: On a snorkeling trip in Indonesia about
a month before COVID hit. But I don't want
to get on an airplane. I don't really want
to travel.
PAUL SOLMAN: How many years before you actually
take that trip to Indonesia, do you suppose?
WOMAN: Three?
MAN: Five.
(LAUGHTER)
PAUL SOLMAN: Anybody give me six here?
(LAUGHTER)
PAUL SOLMAN: Professors Heidi (ph) and Richard
Brooks (ph) both had COVID in the spring.
He was hospitalized.
MAN: My antibodies are still robust. And I
feel, because of the antibodies, a little
bit more comfortable traveling than I imagine
most people.
PAUL SOLMAN: Wife Heidi had a milder case.
WOMAN: It is a risk, but we can't necessarily
lock ourselves into never being in another
country again.
PAUL SOLMAN: But even the Brooks' travel plans
are on hold until 2022. And the airlines don't
expect a rebound until 2024.
For the "PBS NewsHour," Paul Solman, not flying
anywhere.
