AMERICAN AIRLINES: Clean Commitment Has You Covered Throughout the Holidays

American Airlines issued the following announcement on Nov. 2.

As part of its Clean Commitment, American Airlines covers every step of the travel experience to help keep customers safe and confident about reconnecting with the people and places that matter most. American continues to upgrade its Clean Commitment with the latest scientific data, input from infectious disease experts on the travel health advisory panel, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations and customer feedback.

Clean air and clean planes

The rigorous cleaning program at American only uses Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved products that are safe for team members and customers so that every surface is protected. Planes are cleaned with care before every flight, including high-touch surfaces like seat buckles, bin handles, seats, tray tables and more. There’s a more thorough deep cleaning on every aircraft, every night. For an additional barrier of protection, American uses an electrostatic spraying solution approved by the EPA to provide defense against coronavirus (COVID-19).

Hospital-grade HEPA filters ensure customers are breathing clean air while on the plane. These HEPA filters are effective at filtering the coronavirus and recirculate the cabin air once every 2 to 4 minutes, which is more frequent than that in most hospital operating rooms.

Airplanes exchange the entire volume of air 20-30 times per hour and have filters that can capture particles 10 times smaller than the COVID-19 virus.

— Source: Boeing, University of Arizona, NASA and the National Center for Biotechnology Information

In addition to clean air and clean planes, the airline has implemented multiple layers of protection for clean spaces under its control in airports. This includes Admirals Club lounges, gate areas, ticket counters, passenger service counters, baggage service offices and team member rooms.

Resources help make travel planning easier

As part of its Clean Commitment, American is committed to helping customers feel informed, prepared and supported. The airline’s new travel tool helps customers quickly see the current COVID-19 travel guidelines for domestic and international destinations. Whether you’re planning a trip to the beach, mountains or anywhere in between you’ll know the face covering guidelines, testing requirements and quarantine rules before you go.

American is also offering several ways to undergo preflight COVID testing for customers traveling to several international destinations and Hawaii. Visit aa.com for the latest details and look for this program to expand to additional markets in the future.

Travel planning pro tip: Before you take to the skies, Download the free American Airlines app for a touchless experience. From booking and check-in to accessing boarding passes for checked baggage and Admirals Club® lounges, American’s app can assist at any point throughout the journey. The new app also features a chat function to ask the virtual assistant for help in real time.

During the check-in process — on the app, online or at the airport — we also require all customers to certify that they have been free of COVID symptoms for the past 14 days.

Safety first, always

Following CDC recommendations, American has a strict face covering policy for customers and team members. For customers, this policy starts when they enter the airport and remains in effect until they leave the airport where their trip ends.

Due to safety risk of asymptomatic COVID-19 transmission, we only allow exemptions for customers under 2 years old.

A recent modeling study estimates the universal use of surgical masks in settings with the ventilation rates of an aircraft may reduce infection risk from respiratory particles to less than 1%.

— Source: Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health “Face Mask Use in Air Travel”

American is making it easier to travel with confidence to the ones you care about, it’s all part of the American Airlines Clean Commitment that is designed to give customers peace of mind when traveling.

American also continues to work with the Global Biorisk Advisory Council for GBAC STAR® Accreditation for its fleet of aircraft and customer lounges. American is the first airline to seek GBAC STAR accreditation and expects to receive the designation by the end of 2020.

Original source can be found here.