Delta is the only US carrier to still block the sale of middle seats, but it announced yesterday that it would stop the Covid-era policy from May 1 as more and more passengers take to the skies.
The airline has been blocking middle seats and limiting capacity on its smaller aircraft since April 2020. Although other airlines adopted similar policies, they have all gone back to selling the full complement of seats: in January, Southwest Airlines reported that the decision to open up all seats in December 2020 led to an $80 million bump in revenue.
In the announcement, CEO Ed Bastian said that 65 per cent of all Delta passengers who flew the airline in 2019 expected to have at least one dose of the vaccine by May 1, and that it “giving us the assurance to offer customers the ability to choose any seat on our aircraft, while also introducing new services, products and rewards to support the journey.”
