The bizarre new Alaska Flying Bath base in DC

Airlines added significant restrictions on flights to and from the metro area over the next week, ahead of the presidential inauguration. This comes on the heels of some wild behavior we saw at airports and on planes around January 6, before and after the violent riots in the capital.

Next week, we see airlines add restrictions on flights to and from the capital, starting with Banning alcohol on board To prohibit inspection of firearms.

Alaska Airlines just added restrictions to its 31 weekly flights to the metro area, and there’s one restriction in particular that caught me by surprise.

Alaska Airlines restrictions on capital flights

Alaska Airlines has it Advertise It temporarily implements additional safety measures that focus on keeping employees and passengers safe. This policy begins today (January 15, 2021), and no specific end date has been published. Here’s what the airline promotes:

• Increased mask application on the ground and throughout the flight
• Limit the number of tickets purchased on flights to and from the metro area
• Banned firearms tested on flights to the metro area of ​​the capital
• All passengers traveling to and from the metro area are required to remain in their seats one hour after take-off and an hour before landing
• Add additional staff to support compliance
• Set up procedures to ensure compliance before take-off and departure, and for retreat or diversion, if circumstances warrant
• Provide a dedicated command center to monitor every stage of the flight and quickly respond to and solve any incidents

Alaska Airlines notes that it currently has 304 people on its active ban list. All of these restrictions are added at the same time The US Federal Aviation Administration is threatening with imprisonment or fine Anyone misbehaving on board. I also expect federal air guards primarily to be assigned to flights to the capital over the coming days.

The most surprising temporary limitation

Most of these limitations seem reasonable and logical enough. The rule that surprises me and others is that all passengers must remain seated for the first and last hour of the flight. Why is this so strange?

• This is a restriction that was introduced for a few years after 9/11 for flights to and from the capital; However, at the time, the rule was to remain seated for 30 minutes after takeoff and before landing in the capital
• In an era of cockpit reinforced doors, what exactly is it intended to stop this?
• What is the logic of the first and last hour, and not just the hour of arrival or departure from the capital? What is the fear that one of them is planning a kidnapping?

I suppose the general concept is that the more people seated, the less likely they are to cause trouble and get into confrontations. At the same time, this seems completely arbitrary, especially since the primary meaning here is that people will not be able to use the bathroom.

Passengers may be at the departure gate an hour before departure, then it may take 30 minutes to reach the runway, and then passengers have to stay in their seats for an hour. It makes sense for people to have to use bathrooms during that stage of the trip, which is also the reason why this seems a bit unreasonable, because I’m not sure what problem this treatment is meant to address.

After all that has been said, my conclusion here is not “governments around the world are uniting to fully control their citizens and take away all freedoms”.

Hopefully this is just a temporary policy, as opposed to a fluid ban, or how we have to take off the shoes in security, both of which started out as temporary measures, but still.

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Airlines impose a variety of restrictions on flights to the capital. Arguably the most interesting restrictions are from Alaska Airlines, which require passengers to remain in their seats during the first and last hour of the flight.

This makes you wonder exactly what problem Alaska Airlines is trying to address here. If there was credible evidence that there was a planned hijacking, or something like that, you’d think this policy would be enforced federally, not by an airline.

What do you think of Alaska Airlines’ compulsory seats policy on capital flights?