xandreu wrote: ↑Thu May 07, 2020 10:04 pm Sitting on an airplane for several hours, one seat away from someone with covid-19 is not going to protect you in any way imaginable.

It's an enclosed pressurised space with recycled air. Simply removing or leaving the middle seat free wouldn't come anywhere close to adequate protection.

I certainly wouldn't want to give it a go.

Ryan754326 wrote: ↑Fri May 08, 2020 4:46 am

Yerg wrote: ↑Thu May 07, 2020 9:45 pm
Took the words out of my mouth JB. My parents pay tax on something that they paid for over many years out of their net incomes. So we know that your father and my parents are still supporting whatever care they may need from their continuing tax payments... Rather than being a drain

I’m not trying to turn this into a young vs old argument, or suggesting that pensioners are a drain, but the fact is, that the money the older generation has paid into the system for decades is long gone; already used up to pay the previous generation their pensions, among other things. It’s not all sitting in a bank account somewhere.
Governments operate on a Ponzi scheme model. Without new money coming in the whole thing breaks down.

Ryan754326 wrote: ↑Fri May 08, 2020 1:30 pm

SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Fri May 08, 2020 5:13 am
With due respect, Ryan - that is a zero sum game you are stating.
you can in fact do both.

I don’t mean to imply that no one can work at the moment, but even 10% unemployment is going to be a very noticeable hit, if it carries on for any length of time.

Most of the people I know in Canada share the opinion that every life is precious, and that all we can do is sit inside and wait for the inevitable vaccine to come, economy be damned. I don’t think they appreciate the damage that might be done if we continue to keep things closed for 3 to 6 months, or longer.
Going back to my original post, what we are dealing with is a virus that is killing a very small percentage of people who are mostly old and sick already. The question I have been asking since early on, is why can’t we isolate those people and let the rest start getting back to normal? The most common answer I am getting from my older friends and relatives is that it wouldn’t be fair, and it’s better to just keep everyone home until the virus disappears. I don’t believe that this is feasible, and I think it’s likely that the economy will be badly damaged if we keep trying.

Ryan754326 wrote: ↑Fri May 08, 2020 1:30 pm

SternAAlbifrons wrote: ↑Fri May 08, 2020 5:13 am
With due respect, Ryan - that is a zero sum game you are stating.
you can in fact do both.

I don’t mean to imply that no one can work at the moment, but even 10% unemployment is going to be a very noticeable hit, if it carries on for any length of time.

Most of the people I know in Canada share the opinion that every life is precious, and that all we can do is sit inside and wait for the inevitable vaccine to come, economy be damned. I don’t think they appreciate the damage that might be done if we continue to keep things closed for 3 to 6 months, or longer.
Going back to my original post, what we are dealing with is a virus that is killing a very small percentage of people who are mostly old and sick already. The question I have been asking since early on, is why can’t we isolate those people and let the rest start getting back to normal? The most common answer I am getting from my older friends and relatives is that it wouldn’t be fair, and it’s better to just keep everyone home until the virus disappears. I don’t believe that this is feasible, and I think it’s likely that the economy will be badly damaged if we keep trying.

hanno wrote: ↑Thu May 07, 2020 6:11 pm

rogerrabbit wrote: ↑Thu May 07, 2020 5:46 pm

hanno wrote: ↑Thu May 07, 2020 11:33 am @x@xandreu I think the cost of social distancing in planes will be passed on to the punters, but let’s see.

Social distancing will not last for long. Once quick tests and vaccinations are available there is no need for social distancing. Meanwhile airlines are desperate to get even some money coming in, get people back to planes and travelling so tickets will be cheap in near future too.

I am not quite that optimistic. And for airlines it might be cheaper to leave the planes on the ground that operate them at 50% capacity.