This right here:

"Even if someone coughs on your flight without a mask, it is likely those virus particles will travel one or two rows"...

is the problem...

Wonderful if there are only 20 people on the plane and everyone is spread out. Yes in that scenario you are perhaps less likely to get sick (that is assuming after someone has coughed they didn't immediately go to the bathroom and touch a bunch of seats for balance on the way there...)

But even the push some airlines have had to block the middle seat isn't gonna help this scenario.

And like MEAT said, particles gotta get to the air filter before they can in fact filter but they for sure can hitch a ride on someone else that is close first.