RALEIGH, N.C. -- A North Carolina woman was fearful to be on what appeared to be a flight nearly full of passengers on a trip home to Raleigh over the weekend.
Erin Strine caught video of American Airlines flight 388 on Saturday where things appeared to be business as usual with little social distancing. Amid a layover in Charlotte, Strine said she was 'stunned' to be on a flight that was nearly full of passengers after taking off from JFK Airport in New York.
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Strine, whose grandmother had recently passed, was traveling to Raleigh to be with family.
In a middle seat, she became worried for her health.
Strine said she arrived at a largely empty JFK two hours before her scheduled flight and saw passengers start to gather in line to board.
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American Airlines released a statement after media outlets picked up Strine's video:
"The safety of our customers and team members remains our top priority. We are in close contact with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and public health officials and will continue to coordinate with them on any required health and safety-related measures. In response to our employees' concerns about COVID-19, we have expanded our cleaning procedures to ensure high-touch areas are cleaned more frequently and have introduced procedures to ensure employees maintain proper distance from others and follow all CDC recommendations for personal hygiene. We allow all employees to wear gloves or masks if they wish, and in the wake of recently-updated CDC guidelines, are working to provide masks to all front-line employees as quickly as we can obtain supplies without taking any actions that would deprive such necessary supplies from first responders and health care providers."