When Reuters photographer Carlos Barria boarded American Airlines flight 4511 from Washington Reagan National Airport to New Orleans on Friday for an assignment, he was the only passenger on the 76-seat jet.
"There were some awkward moments," Barria said. Like when the gate agent announced a formal boarding process only to remember that Barria was the sole passenger who would board, or when the pilot approached his seat to personally explain a delay in take-off due to a mechanical issue, rather than speak over the PA system.
The two flight attendants invited Barria to sit in a first-class seat and went through the safety demonstration for Barria alone. "I felt I had to pay attention," he said.
Nearly-vacant flights have become the norm for US airlines, despite a drastic reduction in the number of planes they put in the air each day as passenger traffic has diminished in the midst of the new coronavirus gripping countries across the globe.
Flight attendants continue to do their jobs, despite some telling Reuters that they fear contracting the virus and infecting at-risk family at home.
One of the flight attendants on Barria's flight said she would be flying from New Orleans on to her hometown Miami, where she was due to take her father for a cancer treatment after her four-day trip rotation that included sleeping in hotels every night.
05/04/20 Reuters/India Today
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"There were some awkward moments," Barria said. Like when the gate agent announced a formal boarding process only to remember that Barria was the sole passenger who would board, or when the pilot approached his seat to personally explain a delay in take-off due to a mechanical issue, rather than speak over the PA system.
The two flight attendants invited Barria to sit in a first-class seat and went through the safety demonstration for Barria alone. "I felt I had to pay attention," he said.
Nearly-vacant flights have become the norm for US airlines, despite a drastic reduction in the number of planes they put in the air each day as passenger traffic has diminished in the midst of the new coronavirus gripping countries across the globe.
Flight attendants continue to do their jobs, despite some telling Reuters that they fear contracting the virus and infecting at-risk family at home.
One of the flight attendants on Barria's flight said she would be flying from New Orleans on to her hometown Miami, where she was due to take her father for a cancer treatment after her four-day trip rotation that included sleeping in hotels every night.
05/04/20 Reuters/India Today
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