UPDATE: Major Airlines Drop Mask Mandate After Federal Judge Rules Against It
As we near the April 18 expiration date of the federal transportation mask mandate in the U.S. many are concerned about what the future of traveling will look like.
The U.S. government’s mask mandate, which went into effect on February 1, 2021, applies to people on planes, trains, ferries and other modes of public transportation. It was first set to expire March 18, 2021, but has been extended three times. Last month it was challenged in a lawsuit filed by Republican lawmakers from 21 states including: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia.
The chief executives of the country’s largest airlines also asked President Joe Biden in a letter to let federal mask mandates at airports and on planes lapse on April 18, along with COVID-19 testing requirements for international travelers. The letter stated that mask mandates “no longer make sense in the current public health context” and that “science clearly supports lifting the mask mandate.”
RELATED: CDC Loosens Mask Guidelines as Omicron Surge Subsides
Several international airlines, particularly in Europe, have already begun eliminating mandatory masking on flights, according to CNET.
Over the past few weeks, Danish airports and London’s Heathrow Airport have lifted their mask requirements, as have several major British airlines.
Airline employees in England rejoiced in regards to the end of mask mandates. “First flight done without a mask and it was an absolute dream,” a woman, who identified herself as a flight attendant from Yorkshire, England, on her social media accounts, recently wrote on Twitter, alongside a photo of her fully visible smile, according to the New York Times.
On April 4, Norwegian Air announced that it was removing mask requirements for all of its flights.
Following the end of mask mandates in England and Wales, British Airways also lifted its mask requirements on some of its flights.
Swedish airline SAS has eliminated required masking on flights within Denmark, Sweden and Norway. Meanwhile, passengers over 6 that are traveling to or from other countries must still wear masks.
On March 16, Virgin Atlantic made masks optional for fliers traveling to Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, the Bahamas and Jamaica.
Icelandic Air has also made masks optional for all flights except those to and from Canada, the U.S. and Germany.
The UK-based airlines easyJet, Jet2 and Tui have all lifted in-flight mask requirements for flights that originate and end at locations that don’t require masks, including England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Whether or not the U.S. will take Europe’s lead and officially end the mask mandate on April 18 depends on a decision from the White House. As to be expected, many people are divided on whether or not the mandate should come to an end. Some flight attendants believe the mandate should be extended while others believe it isn’t worth it due to the problems they face enforcing it.
Last month, a group of nine flight attendants from Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier, Southwest and United filed a lawsuit alleging that the mask mandate is unconstitutional. The flight attendants say mask requirements on airplanes lead to hostility and violence toward them, ABC4 notes.
The Federal Aviation Administration reported 668 out of 1,035 cases of unruly passengers in 2022 have been related to face masks as of March 2022.
On the other hand, A Harris Poll of 2,097 respondents from April 3 shows that 60 percent of Americans support extending the masking requirements beyond April 18.
Some people believe that a decision on mask mandates should be based on COVID cases while others believe that case counts are irrelevant as long as vaccines are preventing serious disease. However, not everyone on a plane can count on vaccines protecting them and the people they live with from severe COVID infections.
“COVID is not over,” says Leonard Marcus, the director of Harvard’s Aviation Public Health Initiative, which produced a report that some airline executives have used to rationalize ending mask requirements. He says it’s too soon to decide if BA.2 merits an extension of the federal mask mandate. However, he says, if the mandate is lifted it will be difficult to reinstate it.
Airlines usually follow the protocols put in place by the Transportation Security Administration, which means if the mandate isn’t extended, the airlines are likely to return to the “no mask necessary” policy.
“We remain in communication with the Administration as they reassess the existing mask requirements and work to identify a path forward from COVID-era policies,” an Association of Flight Attendants representative told CNET.
RELATED: 3 Things to Consider With Mask Mandates Lifting
If you are traveling, there are a few ways you can protect yourself from COVID whether or the not the mandate is lifted:
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