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American Airlines will start packing planes to full capacity again
The middle seat is back in play on American Airlines flights starting in July.
From July 1, the airline will book passengers in the middle seat again as it hopes to boost yields after months of bleeding cash.
Up until now American has been blocking about half of middle seats on flights for social distancing.
The airline accepts it cannot block the seats forever, especially as travel demand is ticking up.
American believes now is the time to get back to some sort of normality on passenger seating especially with the busy July 4 holiday just days away.
The airline will inform customers when a flight is approaching full capacity and offer the option to reschedule for a less crowded flight.
United Airlines has a similar policy.
There is still some unease about flying in a crowded cabin full of passengers, especially with no federal rules governing the compulsory use of face masks.
The Allied Pilots Association has called on the government to subsidize safety measures by buying up empty middle seats.
Delta Air Lines and Southwest will continue flying with limited capacity through September.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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