10 June 2020: The closure of international borders is slowly being lifted and air travel is gearing up across the world. Airlines are following strict guidelines and health care measures put forward by CDC, WHO and ICAO to prevent the spread of the virus and to ensure the safety of their employees and passengers. Alaska Airlines has issued a new flyer health agreement which includes expanded safety measures to be followed from 30th June 2020. Named as Next-Level Care measures, it has over 100 different measures to ensure safe flight.
“Caring for our guests and employees and ensuring their safety has always been our number one priority. COVID-19 has prompted us to fundamentally change the entire travel experience,” said Alaska Airlines CEO Brad Tilden. “Next-Level Care has been informed by medical experts, employees and guests, to ensure our customers are safe, whenever they’re ready to fly.“
Some of these measures include, using of Alaska mobile app for check-in, also prior to boarding of any flight the passenger had to submit a complete health agreement which will clearly state that the passenger is not suffering from any COVID-19 symptoms in last 72 hours. Besides, the middle seats on all aircraft will remain empty to ensure the norms of social distancing are followed to the T. The rule will be exceptional to families travelling together on special request. Use of face mask is mandatory once on-board, all the passengers as well as crew have to wear a mask at all times on-board. All Alaska Airlines flights are fitted with high quality HEPA filters which refreshes the cabin air every 3 minutes and also kills most of the bacteria and viruses.
The video explains the working of Next level Care
We’ve thought through every single touchpoint of your travels–from booking to boarding, and beyond–and implemented nearly 100 ways to keep you safe every time you fly with us. Learn more at https://t.co/iDjLNC6Zol pic.twitter.com/1B6R5cX1GB— Alaska Airlines (@AlaskaAir) June 9, 2020
Alaska Airlines works in close collaboration with UW Medicine medical advisors and infection prevention experts Dr. John Lynch and Dr. Chloe Bryson-Cahn.
“We worked with Alaska Airlines to help them implement industry best practices for keeping their flight crews and passengers safe,” said Lynch.
“People should think of flying the same way that they would when they shop at a grocery store,” said Bryson-Cahn. “Wear a mask, wash your hands, or use hand sanitizer, cover your cough and stay home if you have any COVID-19 symptoms. We’re all in this together.”
Apart from these norms, all the flights are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before and after every flight with EPA-certified disinfectant. Also all touch points are sanitised and deep cleaned with electrostatic sprayers which allows the disinfectant to wrap and cling to curves and corners thereby giving an additional protective layer.
There is a change in the boarding process as the guests will now have to board as per their row numbers in smaller groups from back to front.
These are some of the NEXT Level care measure put forward by Alaska Airlines for the safety of passengers and crew. A post flight survey showed that about 82 per cent flyers felt the environemtn safe and healthy while 95 per cent said that the seating arrangement was clean.
