The three largest carriers in the United States, American Airlines, Delta and United Airlines, have instructed flight attendants not to force passengers to comply with their policies requiring face coverings, just encourage them to do so.
Pilots
Ground staff from American Airlines, Delta and United Airlines are instructed on how to deal with anyone not wearing a face covering.
However, in internal reports seen by Reuters, flight crews for American Airlines were encouraged to be lenient and to not strictly enforce the policy.
“Once on board and off the gate, the face covering policy becomes more lenient. The flight attendant’s role is informational, not enforcement, with respect to the face covering policy,”
American Airlines internal statement to pilots, provided by Reuters
American Airlines pilots were also told that non-compliant passengers are “NOT considered disruptive enough to trigger a Threat Level 1 response”.
This refers to a situation in which a captain can divert the aircraft, in the event of a passenger behaving in a disruptive manner.
Flight Attendants
American Airlines has instructed flight attendants to take a hands-off approach with face-coverings, according to an internal airline statement.
“If the customer chooses not to comply for other reasons, please encourage them to comply, but do not escalate further. Likewise, if a customer is frustrated by another customer’s lack of face covering, please use situational awareness to de-escalate the situation,”
American Airlines internal statement to flight attendants, provided by AA to Reuters
A United Airlines spokeswoman confirmed to Reuters that their airline operates on similar policies. United says that any passengers choosing to not wear a face-covering would be dealt with at the gate.
Reuters was also told that United flight attendants had been counselled to use their “de-escalation skills” on the aircraft and to re-seat any passengers as needed.
Delta also confirmed a similar policy.
Conflicting Opinions
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has voiced support for face-covering restrictions, labelling the move a “critical part of…biosecurity” when demand for air travel returns.
Despite individual airlines implementing face-covering restrictions, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has repeatedly refused to mandate the requirement.
“The FAA is proactively taking steps to help address the widespread economic and health effects that the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the aviation industry,”
FAA Statement, provided to Reuters
What are your thoughts on the issue? Let us know in the comments.
Article Source: Reuters
If it wasn’t because Faucy was caught saying mask are useless, everyone should wear one.
American Airlines is good carrier. if you don’t think so, have never traveled with some of the low-cost European airlines. Moreover, Alitalia or something. However, I like Asian and Middle East carrier. They are much more comfortable.
The airlines are being total wimps when it comes to protecting everybody. What a crock! As soon as one airline mandates the use of masks, the others will be shamed & have to follow. Do they want my hard-earned money? If so, help protect me!
Well that will totally keep me from flying. I suspect that for every person not wanting to wear a mask to fly, just as many will not want to fly with them.
Why are these people stubborn?? Is it really too much for everyone now during the pandemic to behave and show consideration to others! Isn’t it enough that you and others risk their health and lives when they roam around airports and fly together. Just cannot believe the manner of ignorance and selfishness of those refusing to wear a mask properly while in public! With such kind of attitude travelling will be far away of being safe. Only a vaccine can put these stubborn heads in their place!
Jamie, that’s a very ignorant and hostile stance. There are legitimate reasons why some passengers choose not to or can’t wear masks for health reasons. As for vaccines, that will be even more divisive. Being forced to inject something against your will is a crime against humanity. Anyway, so far there is no indication that a viable vaccine will even be developed, let alone required for travel. The crisis will be over long before then anyway.
There are a multitude of very real reasons why someone might not be wearing a mask such as anxiety/claustrophobia, underlying lung problems that make rebreathing CO2 a big hazard, or the very best reason of all-that person has had it, recovered, & now has antibodies against it. Despite what the media might have us think, millions of people around the world have actually recovered from this. That is what we need to have happen, btw. So, if being around someone not wearing a mask is personally scary for you, and you cannot or will not remember there could be very legitimate reasons, then don’t interact w/that person.
On a side note-to the author of this article, the picture of the lone pax in an empty plane, & others like it circulating, are a big part of the problem right now as they don’t reflect what pax are likely to encounter when stepping on a plane due to reductions in schedules. If there is only 1 non-stop/day from JFK to SFO on UA (as an example), it’s going to be as packed as UA can make it. The public needs to understand why (survival of the business) & plan accordingly when making their own decisions about flying.