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Airlines have added significant restrictions on flights to and from the DC metro area over the coming week, ahead of the presidential inauguration. This follows unruly behavior we saw at airports and on planes around January 6, both before and after the violent riots in Washington.
For the coming week, we see airlines adding restrictions on flights to and from DC, ranging from a ban on alcohol on board to a ban on gun control.
Alaska Airlines just added restrictions on its 31 weekly flights to the DC metro area, and there is one restriction in particular that caught me off guard.
Alaska Airlines restrictions on DC flights
Alaska Airlines has announced that it is temporarily implementing additional security measures to ensure the safety of employees and passengers. This policy is effective today (January 15, 2021) and no exact end date has been posted. Here’s what the airline is promoting:
- Reinforcement of the application of masks in the field and throughout the trip
- Limit the number of tickets purchased on flights to and from the DC metro area
- Prohibition of registered firearms on flights to the DC metro area
- Require that all passengers traveling to and from the DC metro area remain seated one hour after take-off and one hour before landing
- Adding additional staff to ensure compliance
- Prepare procedures for ensuring compliance before departure and take-off, and for U-turns or deviations, if circumstances warrant
- Introducing a dedicated command center to monitor every phase of the journey and quickly respond and resolve any incident
Alaska Airlines notes that it currently has 304 people on its active ban list. All of these restrictions are being added at the same time as the US FAA threatens to jail or amend anyone who misbehaves on an airplane. I also expect the Federal Air Marshals to be primarily assigned to DC flights over the next few days.
The most surprising temporary restriction
Most of these restrictions seem quite reasonable and logical. The rule that surprises me and the others is the one that requires all passengers to remain seated for the first and last hour of the flight. Why is it so strange?
- This is a restriction that was introduced for a few years after September 11 for flights to and from DC; however, at the time, the rule was to simply remain seated for 30 minutes after take-off and before landing in DC.
- In the age of reinforced cockpit doors, what exactly is this meant to stop?
- What is the logic of the first and last hour, rather than the time of arrival or departure from DC? And what is the fear that someone is planning a hijacking?
I guess the general concept is that the longer people sit, the less likely they are to cause problems and end up in confrontations. At the same time, it seems entirely arbitrary, especially since the main implication here is that people won’t be able to use the bathroom.
Passengers can be at a boarding gate an hour before departure, then 30 minutes to get to the runway, then passengers must remain seated for an hour. It is reasonable that people should use the toilet during this phase of the flight, which is also why it seems a little unreasonable, as I am not sure what problem it is intended to solve.
That being said, my conclusion here is not that “governments around the world are coming together to fully control their citizens and take away all freedoms.”
Hope this is only a temporary policy, unlike the liquids ban, or the way we have to take our shoes off to safety, which both started as temporary measures, but still exist. .
At the end of the line
Airlines are introducing various restrictions on DC flights. Perhaps the most interesting restriction comes from Alaska Airlines, which will require passengers to remain seated for the first and last hour of the flight.
It makes you wonder exactly what problem Alaska Airlines is trying to solve here. If there was credible evidence to suggest that there was a hijacking, or something like that, then you would think this policy would be imposed by the federal government rather than an airline.
What do you think of Alaska Airlines’ forced seat policy on DC flights?
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