Tag Archives for masks.
The only way to have a mask mandate is for the mandate to apply to everyone, and that mandate is in many cases the only alternative to stricter measures. Whether you agree with that scientifically or not you need to at least acknowledge that as the political reality. And that’s why an anti-masker should, I think, support mask wearing because it’s less intrusive than the policies that would happen otherwise.
A woman was denied boarding in Phoenix by American on Wednesday since she wouldn’t wear a mask. That’s when the passenger went Brazil hotel clerk on the gate agent.
Perhaps NSFW needs to be NSFH(ome) with small children, given the language in this video if you turn sound on.
It wasn’t enough just to ask customers to wear masks. Part of the reason is how political masks have become, although I wonder if they’re getting less so as people become used to the requirement, the President wears one in public, and Red States are requiring them too.
There are subtleties in airline mask policies, but largely there’s been a six-part progression to airline rules. The latest is to define what kind of mask is acceptable. There’s an exception to the ‘no masks with valve’ rule, though.
David Harris, Jr., whose book title describes himself as a black conservative, posted a livestream refusing to wear a mask on American Airlines. With a wink and a nod he suggested that a medical issue with a mask was enough to exempt anyone from the requirement. It was clear he didn’t have a ‘real’ medical need. Indeed he had a photo of himself on Instagram wearing a mask.
He’s posted a new video to twitter showing the airline turning him away for his past mask altercation, and he’s shocked that no one from the airline told him he was banned.
People get kicked off of planes for lots of reasons. Often alcohol is involved. Recently the refusal to wear a mask has been a point of conflict, but with months feeling like years now this reason seems ‘so July’.
Instead the most 2020 reason to get kicked off a plane is now wearing a mask that’s offensive.
Two men, who allegedly had been binging on vodka, refused to wear masks. They were reminded of the requirement by cabin crew. They also refused to be seated for landing. One reportedly hit a fellow passenger. Then passengers and flight attendants worked together to restrain one of the men.
Covidiots aren’t the exclusive realm of the United States. The outbreak in the U.S. is huge (though not worst in the world by confirmed cases or deaths, adjusted for population). But the U.S. is hardly alone when it comes to idiots – or dissent over the best policy response to the virus.
On Delta’s Cancun – New York JFK flight DL787 on Friday, the man sitting in 31D kept asking for help from a flight attendant. Delta has been blocking middle seats, but the man seated nearest him in 31F kept removing his face mask. Four or five times cabin crew would ask him to put it on, and he’d reportedly do so only until the crewmember had left.
Back in March an American Airlines flight attendant wrote about her ordeal trying to wear a face shield while working flights. She viewed it as taking precautions to protect herself while some passengers refused to comply with the carrier’s mask requirement. The airline told her she should just go on leave if she felt unsafe, and that she made “customers feel uncomfortable.”
Now American Airlines has reportedly reversed its ban on flight attendants wearing face shields.
David Harris, Jr. is apparently popular in certain circles as a black man who supports President Trump, though I hadn’t heard of him until he made a ruckus on an American Airlines flight – refusing to wear a mask, and advising his followers that only N95 masks are prophylactic, which isn’t supported by the balance of evidence at this point.
Apparently Mr. Harris held up a flight departure on Saturday when he boarded without a mask on, and passengers complained. He reports that he “declared [to] have a medical reason to not wear a mask.”
Even with fewer people traveling than ever before during the pandemic, conflict in a metal tube over surprisingly controversial subjects seems almost de rigueur.
So what’s actually shocking in this view isn’t a woman being kicked off for refsuing to wear a mask, it’s all the carry on bags as she leaves the aircraft!
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
