Risk of Exposure to COVID-19 Is High as Airlines Make Their Own Coronavirus Rules
Air travel is still viable during the Coronavirus Pandemic. Airlines in both Indiana and Illinois are offering commercial flights to passengers despite COVID-19 exposure risks. Of course, current stay-at-home orders issued by both state governors limit flying to “essential travel,” and flight schedules have been reduced.
Airport Response to COVID-19: Keeping Terminals Clean
Airports in our part of the country are taking extra precautions to keep travelers safe. For details, read the Indianapolis International Airport’s “Traveler Updates on Coronavirus Response,” as well as “Travel Information for O’Hare and Midway Airports Regarding Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19),” issued jointly by Chicago’s O’Hare and Midway Airports.
Among the steps being taken by airports in Illinois and Indiana to protect travelers from harm (as well as workers and employees) are the following:
- Cleaning crews using specific virus-killing disinfectants known to kill Coronavirus;
- Having high-traffic areas (e.g., food courts, visitor seating, gate seating, etc.) cleaned more often than standard cleaning schedules (once an hour in IIA);
- Instituting cleaning protocols targeting the cleaning and disinfecting of high risk items such as doorknobs, stalls, sinks, urinals, toilets, dispensers, etc., in public bathrooms;
- Providing hand sanitizer for the public (and workers) to use throughout the facility;
- Social distancing of shuttle buses by keeping passenger limits to a maximum of 15 during any one trip; and
- Having restrooms cleaned and sanitized once each day with Kivac machines using a hospital-grade disinfectant.
Airlines’ Response to COVID-19: Each Company Makes Its Own Rules
Last week, the association representing the nation’s largest airlines gave its support to a new protocol advanced by the Transportation Security Administration where passengers and employees would both be checked for fever before being allowed to board (“temperature screening”). Read, “U.S. Airlines Endorse Fever Checks as Covid-19 Safety Measure,” written by Hailey Waller and published by Bloomberg on May 9, 2020.
Meanwhile, the global airline trade association International Air Transport Association (IATA), defining itself as representative of 82% of the world’s total air traffic, has issued its own set of guidelines for dealing with the risk of exposure to the Coronavirus during air travel. The fourth edition of the IATA’s “Preventing Spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Guideline for Airlines,” includes the following:
- Personal protection equipment (PPE) for the flight crew as well as maintenance personnel and cleaners, to include face masks, goggles, and alcohol-based disinfecting wipes;
- Face masks are to be changed at least every four (4) hours for crew members on high-risk flights;
- Temperature screening of all passengers that increase depending upon whether the flight is deemed low-risk; medium-risk; or high-risk;
- Plane lavatories to be cleaned once every two (2) hours;
- Disinfecting of the aircraft after every flight (high-risk) and once a week (low and medium risk);
- Cabin divided into four zones: (a) clean area; (b) buffer zone; (c) passenger seating area; and (d) quarantine area; and
- Passengers seated with at least one empty seat between each other.
However, while these trade associations can issue their recommendations, each airline in the United States makes its own decisions on COVID-19 safety measures for its employees and its customers. Things are not uniform. Read “Coronavirus: Airlines Taking Different Routes to COVID-19 Safety, Here’s What to Expect,” written by David Louie and published by ABC-7 News on May 7, 2020.
As explained by the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration to the head of the international pilots association (read his April 14, 2020 letter here):
“While the FAA remains steadfast in its focus on safety of flight, we are not a public health agency. We must look to other U.S. Government agencies for guidance on public and occupational health. As COVID-19 emerged as a growing threat, we knew that the entire commercial air transportation industry would need additional guidance. We worked with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — the U.S. Government public health authority — to publish the first set of crewmember health guidance on February 2, 2020, followed by subsequent updates and information as we learned more about the virus and the situation evolved. As new CDC guidance was issued, we acted swiftly to make sure it reached you and the rest of the aviation industry….”
“As you know, employee and workplace health are the responsibility of employers. The FAA will continue to focus on the safety of the National Airspace System and the needs of the entire community, including your members. We will continue to ensure that the CDC health guidance provides safeguards for crewmember health, and make clear that following these safeguards can remove unnecessary distractions from the crewmember workplace. As you focus resources and energy on addressing crew complaints with employers, we will continue to emphasize our expectation of full air carrier compliance with the public health recommendations specific to our industry….”
In other words, the FAA informed the nation’s pilots that the responsibility for keeping crew (and passengers) safe from Coronavirus Exposure lies with the individual airlines, not the FAA.
Note: Airlines are required to follow federal regulations (see 42 Code of Federal Regulations Parts 70 and 71) mandating that they report any illnesses on board a flight to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with noncompliance subjecting them to monetary fines.
Two-Fold Danger in Air Travel Today for Exposure to COVID-19 on an Airplane
The FAA letter explains the first danger for anyone traveling by air today – as well as those working in the airline industry: there is no required industry standard to keep people safe from exposure to the Coronavirus. Each airline makes its own decision on COVID-19 safety procedures.
Therefore, the first danger for air travel today in Indiana and Illinois is that both employees and passengers must depend upon decisions made and implemented by the individual airline’s corporate management to keep them safe from COVID-19. There is no governmental uniformity or oversight.
The second danger lies in how each airline performs in keeping individual flights safe for passengers and employees. Even if the airline decides to be thorough and detailed on its Coronavirus Safety Protocols, sparing no expense, those procedures are only as good as they are implemented in a particular flight.
Today, there is a real risk that airline COVID-19 practices, such as they are, are not being followed on individual plane flights. The second danger to both passengers and employees involves individual flight failures to keep people safe.
Consider, for example, the recent experience of a physician on board a flight from New Jersey to San Francisco. The doctor assumed that there would be social distancing on the flight, with United Airlines assuring him that once he boarded, the middle seats would be blocked off.
This was wrong. He found every single seat on the 737 was taken by passengers.
Read, “Doctor flying with United Airlines shares photo of packed flight, says passengers were ‘scared,’ ‘shocked’,” written by Michael Bartiromo and published by Fox News on May 11, 2020.
Result: Passenger Injury Lawsuit for COVID-19 Exposure on a Plane
Given the current insurance industry position on coverage of COVID-19 claims, it is expected that anyone suffering from COVID-19 exposure on a plane during air travel will have to file a personal injury lawsuit against the airline before the airline will recognize its responsibility to the Coronavirus victim and his or her family.
These airline lawsuits will be based upon state negligence law. Both Indiana and Illinois have longstanding jurisprudence that establishes the airline’s liability if (1) it reasonably should have known that either a crew member or a passenger on the plane was a potential health risk to others on the flight and (2) then failed in its duty of care to protect the crew and the passengers from this health risk (i.e., COVID-19 exposure).
Airlines have a duty of care to keep both their employees as well as their customers safe from harm. It is expected that their insurance carriers will fight viciously against accepting responsibility in these cases, as we have warned in earlier posts. See, e.g., Coronavirus Victims Face Senate Attempt to Protect Businesses from Being Sued in COVID Personal Injury Lawsuits; and Coronavirus Workers’ Compensation in Illinois: IWCC Forced to Repeal Help to COVID-19 Victims.
Victims of COVID-19 who were exposed on a plane flight must expect to have a denial of any claim presented to the airline. It is predicted that most airline flight Coronavirus victims will face adjusters and airline corporate representatives scoffing at their claims using a variety of defenses, including the obvious fact burden on the victim to prove that the airline caused their bodily injuries during that specific plane flight, since COVID-19 is known to be extremely contagious.
For more on Coronavirus-related Lawsuits, read:
- Coronavirus Insurance Claims for Illness: Coverage for COVID-19 Bodily Injury and Claim Denials
- Coronavirus Lawsuits and COVID19 Legal Claims in Indiana and Illinois: Wrongful Death or Serious Injury;
- Coronavirus on the Job: Proving Employee Exposure Claims Against Employer for COVID-19 Injury;
- Employers’ Duty to Protect Workers during Coronavirus Outbreak; and
- Deadlines for Injury Victims to File Lawsuits: Statutes of Limitations.
Exposure to the Coronavirus with resulting illness and fatality is a growing risk here in Illinois and Indiana. Air travel is known to be dangerous for exposure to COVID-19 for both employees and passengers on any plane flight. Please be careful out there!
