Tag Archives for masks.
The smart political move is to let the CDC say they’ve examined hospitalization data and the state of new variants and the mask rule can expire, subject to new developments that might warrant its reinstatement. And the people in charge at the White House aren’t dumb.
When the federal transportation mask mandate was overturned by a judge, and the administration decided not to seek an immediate stay of the order but instead to cease its enforcement, airlines began lifting their mask rules.
Southwest Airlines didn’t just send out a statement to customers and to the press that they were lifting their mask rules, Southwest Airlines dispatch sent a message to pilots Monday evening letting them know that the rules had changed mid-flight.
Philadelphia recently re-imposed an indoor mask mandate, and as a result the Philadelphia airport announced that it still requires masks in order to comply.
Except not all of the Philadelphia airport is under the jurisdiction of Philadelphia. Terminals A East and A West (along with two runways, and gates end the end of the B Concourse) are actually in Delaware County,
Delta, United, and Alaska Airlines are already publicly on record saying that since the federal government will cease enforcement of the transportation mask mandate, following a U.S. District Court ruling that the requirement was beyond the statutory authority of the CDC, that they would also stop enforcing a mask requirement.
American Airlines has now told employees that masks are no longer required on board their aircraft either.
After a federal judge struck down the transportation mask mandate, the Biden Administration has made clear they will comply and no longer enforce the rule.
After a federal judge struck down the transportation mask mandate some airlines are saying masks are still required on board.
United Airlines, for instance, told employees that the mask mandate is still in effect regardless of the ruling, pending notification to the contrary by the federal government. Alaska Airlines has taken a different stance publicly stating that masks are now optional.
Congress has certainly shown itself capable of voting on masks, and could have voted to give this power to CDC. It did not. However this federal district court ruling may not be the legal end of the discussion, and the mandate will likely lapse and the case becomes moot before reaching ultimate adjudication.
It’s political fear, ultimately, and not scientific judgment that dictates when the mandate gets lifted. So the relevant question is whether two weeks from now the Administration’s fear of the midterms will outweigh their fear of ‘being wrong’ about the direction of the pandemic and being blamed for lifting a restriction that did little to alter the course of the pandemic in the first place.
United, Delta and Southwest all sell alcohol in coach. American Airlines has been the lone holdout, consistently saying they wouldn’t bring alcohol back into the main cabin while the mask mandate was in place. Former CEO Doug Parker emphasized that he believed adding alcohol into tense confrontations over masks was a bad idea.
The mask mandate was scheduled to lift April 18, and not coincidentally American has been scheduled to bring back alcohol sales and coursed meals on longer flights up front. Now that the mask mandate is being extended again, what happens to American’s plans for booze?
The CDC will extend the mask mandate by two weeks. The goal is to “monitor for any observable increase in severe virus outcomes as cases rise in parts of the country..out of abundance of caution.”
While CDC mask guidance suggests nearly the entire country doesn’t need to wear masks indoors, the only real remaining mask mandates are flying (and other transportation) and in some backward jurisdictions for 2-4 year olds in preschools.
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 »
