Alaska Airlines is opening up all of its middle seats after the election. But not right away.
Dec. 1 is when middle seats begin showing up as available for booking. Until then, all middle seats, which are generally the least desirable on an airplane, have an x through them on the seating charts for flights across the airline’s routes.
Elections across the country are certified by Nov. 30 in most states, which is when the outcome is generally known. Electors meet and vote Dec. 14, and barring “faithless electors” who do not vote according to the wishes of the majority of their state, that seals the election.
Earlier this year, Alaska and other airlines began blocking the middle seats, although at times they used them to accommodate passengers bumped from canceled flights.
There is no particular science to support the return to full flights, since a fall surge is well underway for the virus that originated in China.
The U.S. surpassed 8 million coronavirus cases on Friday, according to the Johns Hopkins University COVID data page. Over the past week, China virus infections have surged by 17 percent, with cases on the uptick in 38 states and Washington, D.C.
