Not so crowded, not so friendly –
JUNE 13, 2020 – Air travel now is a matter of far fewer people, more masks, more disinfectant, less food and drink; and, unless you’re a nosy reporter, a lot less conversation. I look back at my photos of that flight and see a surreal gallery: a series of unknowable, masked humans, their eyes cast down, amid a sea of blue vinyl and gray plastic. “We do a lot less interacting with people,” a flight attendant told me, requesting anonymity because her regional airline — not Southwest — had not authorized her to speak. When an attendant walks down the aisle now, she said, “People pretend to fall asleep because they don’t want to interact with you.” As the country lurches from one phase of the pandemic to another, with a historic eruption of public demonstrations along the way, there’s no telling…
