I flew on United Airlines during the pandemic and found nothing more than empty gestures and boring flights – here's what it was like

Flying on United Airlines from Orlando to New York via Washington.Thomas Pallini/Business Insider

• I flew on United Airlines during the pandemic on a journey from Orlando to New York via Washington to see how the airline's social distancing policies played out in the real world.
• United had opted not to block middle seats and instead, offer free flight changes for passengers flying on crowded flights.
• The airline was inconsistent in its display of social distancing information and the flights lacked any sort of variety as the in-flight service was abandoned.

United Airlines is the third largest airline in the US in terms of fleet size and one of the hardest hit because of the pandemic's impact on its lucrative international routes. Asia, Europe, and Australia, which were effectively closed to Americans throughout the crisis, were among United's top international destination regions when the pandemic struck.

As part of the road to its recovery, the airline is opting against blocking middle seats and is instead offering free flight changes for passengers when more than 70% of seats are booked. The airline had initially announced that middle and certain aisle seats would be blocked but a now-viral social media post had revealed otherwise.

Seats won't be blocked from booking and flights will be booked to capacity if demand requires but United won't assign middle seats and certain aisle seats in paired rows until they are the only ones available. It doesn't mean that a passenger won't be assigned a middle seat but it will be a last resort once all other seats are taken.

I flew on United in late June to see how the airline's policies played out in the real world. Flying from Orlando to New York with a connection in Washington, I saw how the airline handled social distancing on its mainline and regional jets.

Here's what I found.