Delta to start selling middle seats again for first time in a year

Delta Air Lines — the last U.S. airline still blocking bookings of middle seats on its flights — will end that policy in May as air travel recovers and more people become vaccinated against COVID-19.

The decision reverses a policy in place since last April, and which Delta's CEO had repeatedly cited as raising customer trust in the airline during the novel coronavirus pandemic. A survey of Delta customers found that nearly 65% expected to have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine by May 1, which gave the airline "the assurance to offer customers the ability to choose any seat on our aircraft," CEO Ed Bastian said Wednesday.