More on Airline Vaccine Mandates

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In an earlier essay, I analyzed how airlines’ continuing refusal to impose vaccine mandates on eligible crew and passengers reflects disordered thinking, as does eligible people’s refusal to get vaccinated. This note adds another reason why airlines should impose the mandates and suggests how easy and cheap doing so could be.

Covid-19 is nothing like the common cold, or even the flu. It’s a nasty, dangerous disease that attacks multiple organs. It can be utterly debilitating and, in so-called “long haulers,” can last for months or years. It kills about 1.6% of those diagnosed with it. It’s nothing to take lightly.

Unfortunately, moron-politicians have made minimizing the virus’ threat part of their career plans. They have no medical or epidemiological expertise and virtually no doctors or experts on their side. But they persist in understating the pandemic because today’s extreme political division and the information silos that support it let them get attention and votes that way. Wishful thinking is a common human failing, which bent pols can exploit.

Therefore one of the most important advantages of vaccination mandates is psychological and probative. A vaccinated person takes Covid-19 seriously. Requiring all eligible crew and passengers to be vaccinated shows fliers that everyone on board takes the pandemic seriously.

My own personal nightmare is being seated next to, or immediately fore or aft of, an unvaccinated mask-scofflaw. He/she wears a surgical-style mask that repeatedly falls below the nose, or takes it off entirely when not eating or drinking. Worse yet, the person is hoarse, coughing or sneezing and sounds sick.

When I ask gently for correction, he/she yells at me, harangues me, or gets into a fight, thereby increasing my risk of infection. A flight attendant gets involved, and the situation escalates.

This perfectly plausible nightmare is why I—and many in my social circle—won’t fly again until at least one domestic airline imposes a vaccine mandate.

Yes, there are “breakthrough” infections of the vaccinated. Vaccinated people can die and have died from Covid, and they can spread the virus.

But vaccination makes all the difference in a person’s attitude and protective action. If everyone is vaccinated, I know that my seat-mate, the passengers in nearby rows, and my flight attendant will all be my allies against the virus, not my medical enemies. They will wear masks when appropriate and are likely to wear them properly. They will think about how to protect themselves and others.

Think maybe that sort of comfort might entice more people to fly?

Anyway, implementing a mandate is not nearly as hard as worriers and naysayers think. The cabin crew need not be involved at all.

Every airline has an online reservation service. Just require passengers, in making a reservation, to upload images of their CDC vaccination cards or a link to any reputable online vaccination verification service. They can do this along with their names and personal profiles.

Then hire a bunch of suspicious folk with law-enforcement backgrounds to check the online submissions and reject any that look bogus. Hire a few legal types to ask for additional information and adjudicate disputes.

Every one of these new hires can work online, from home. When/if a refusal is final, they can decline the reservation and refund any money paid. If the alleged “proof” of vaccination appears fraudulent, they can bar the applicant from reserving online for a decent penalty period, say, six months or a year. The airline should publicize these penalties prominently on its website, in advance, to discourage fraud. The computer system can enforce the bars.

Voilá! The entire process can be managed online, and all new or critical personnel can work from home, with appropriate changes in software and systems. As it always does, the TSA will make sure that all those boarding are who they claim to be, at no additional cost whatsoever.

Would I fly again—after more than nineteen months of being grounded—if just one domestic airline broke ranks and implemented such a system? Sure.

And that airline would have my lifetime loyalty—totally apart from frequent-flier miles—for showing good judgment, good management, and empathy and care for workers and passengers. How about you?

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