American air travelers might hit some turbulence when it comes to getting on board with potential new requirements for international travelers to divulge COVID-19-related health information via a smartphone app.
According to a CivicScience survey in early June, while most Americans are increasingly “very comfortable” with the idea of passing a temperature test to fly on an airplane, those who use air travel are much less comfortable with the idea of downloading their health information onto an app in order to get onto a plane.
Only about one-quarter of U.S. adults say they would be comfortable flying internationally within the next two months. Meanwhile, nearly two-thirds (63%) say it will be six months or more before they would consider getting on board a plane to another country.
And, somewhat ironically, it’s those who say they’d be comfortable flying internationally within two months who were most likely to say they were “not at all comfortable” with the idea of submitting their COVID-19 health information to an app in order to get clearance to fly. However, a strong contingent of this group also said they would be “very comfortable” with the idea.
Among those who say they’re world travelers under normal circumstances, comfort levels with the proposed air travel health app are much higher.
It remains to be seen whether American air travelers will change their tune if they’re faced with the choice between using the proposed app or not flying abroad. CivicScience will continue to monitor this issue as new developments arise.
