It’s time once again to address the issue of the dreaded middle seat on airplanes.

Two months ago, just about every airline made public statements that they were going to block the middle seats on their planes and that they wouldn’t sell them. Therefore, every passenger was guaranteed that the seat next to them would be empty.

It was the airlines’ attempt to practice social distancing. It was easy for the airlines to make that promise, considering the planes were only about 12% full.

But the reality is that airline cabins and social distancing are mutually exclusive. Even with the center seat blocked, that’s still only about 30 inches of separation between passengers, not six feet. It’s more cosmetic than providing any real degree of safety.

And soon some airlines, like United and American, quietly started filling those seats.

Now, what about the only U.S. airlines still blocking the center seats? Those are Delta and Southwest, which are promising at least — for the moment–  that those seats will stay empty through September 30th.