After Court Overturns Mask Mandate, Airlines Drop Requirements
Joe Cortez April 18, 2022
Less than 12 hours since a U.S. District Court in Florida declared the national face mask mandate unlawful, at least three airlines have dropped their requirements for passengers to wear face coverings in airports and aboard aircraft.
Judge Declares Mandate “Exceeded the CDC’s Statutory Authority”
The decision comes from the lawsuit against the federal government filed by the Health Freedom Defense Fund and two individuals. The organization claims to stand for “Freedom, choice, and the most basic of human rights, bodily autonomy,” but has only challenged COVID-19 vaccine policies across the United States.
In the 59-page decision, Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida writes that although the national face mask mandate created by a presidential executive order and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control was created to stop the spread of the novel Coronavirus, the broad rule overstepped boundaries. In order to allow relief, the logical decision was to overturn the mandate.
“It is indisputable that the public has a strong interest in combating the spread of [COVID-19],” Judge Kimball Mizelle writes in her decision, citing another lawsuit. “In the pursuit of that end, the CDC issued the Mask Mandate. But the Mandate exceeded the CDC’s statutory authority, improperly invoked the good cause exception to notice and comment rulemaking, and failed to adequately explain its decisions.”
Once the court issued the decision, Reuters reports the Biden administration will not require the Transportation Security Administration to enforce the mask mandate, despite the agency announcing it would continue to do so until May 3, 2022. While the CDC has not publicly commented on the decision, the Reuters report notes the agency recommends people wear face coverings “in indoor transportation settings.”
Airlines Drop Face Covering Rules After Decision
In the hours immediately after the decision came down, airlines began dropping their rules requiring passengers to wear a face covering. United Airlines – which was coincidentally the first to require employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine – was the first to announce masks would be optional for passengers. Alaska Airlines went a step further with their announcement by welcoming back many previously banned passengers, noting that only the “guests whose behavior was particularly egregious” would remain on the no-fly list.
Delta Air Lines was the second legacy carrier to announce that face masks would be optional for both passengers and employees but could continue to wear them if they so choose. As of press time, American Airlines has not made an official announcement about their policy, but FlyerTalkers have leaked an inside memo posted to the company’s Jetnet service noting the end of face mask requirements. [Edit: American Airlines formally announced they would drop face mask rules at 8:00 PM Eastern Time.]
The policy end comes after Airlines for America, the Transport Workers Union Local 556 and the U.S. Travel Association all campaigned to let the mandate expire at its last deadline of April 18, 2022.
I sincerly hope that people not wearing masks on Planes & Trains get what is coming to them with severe consquences. I have no 'effs to give.
What's coming to them is the same thing that's coming to people who choose to wear masks: getting to their destination with a miniscule chance (the same miniscule chance as mask-wearers) of catching covid and an even smaller chance that, if they catch covid, anything serious will result.
As the number of US fatalities breaches 1 million, you keep telling yourself that.
Masks are already not required anywhere else in life, in all 50 states. Want to go to a crowded shopping mall? A restaurant? School? Church? Library? Guess what ... no mask required.
Additionally, your cloth or paper mask literally does nothing to stop a 70 nanometer diameter virus, which is sub-microscopic. That is why, despite tons of people masking worldwide for 2 years, COVID still spread like wildfire.
Finally the common sense approach is back. We need to be careful but we also have options that each and every one of us can use to protect ourselves. This should have always been a choice and if you want to compare that to driving on the highway, then I have seen many people that should never leave their home in a car based on how terrible they are as drivers and it is still their choice and mine to drive, so you just try to avoid any bad drivers as best you can but life must go on. We should all be very thankful for freedom to make our own choices.
There is nothing that prevents people from wearing masks. If they are so inclined, let them wear one. I for one will not, finally. The ruling is overdue.
Foisting useless mandates onto people was never the answer
But those are disappearing now - and have been for quite awhile. You still seem angry though.
Not at all. I luckily was minimally impacted by covid mandates since I work from home full time and the area that I live didn't impose very strict mandates aside from indoor masking for a few months.
I can't help but feel sorry for people who live in places such as Philadelphia and NYC where authoritarians still won't cede control about masking and mandates. But at the end of the day, people who decide to live there have made there choice. And I have made mine.
I agree. That commercial was the pits. As a gold 75k with Alaska I was disturbed by their sanctimonious attitude about masks. I'm surprised by their quick turnaround.
From what I've read, the judge said the CDC overstepped its mandate. There is nothing that prevents airlines from still requiring masks on their flights. If enough people care about wearing masks to demand that the airlines require them, then some airlines will ban masks and some won't and people can choose airlines they are comfortable with.
Yes, that's right. It really doesn't matter if one airline chooses to give its competitors a clear advantage in market where consumers have choices. How proud the shareholders would be.