Tobias-UK

I observed an interesting interaction today between passenger and purser regarding when masks must be worn on board? The purer said passengers are required to wear their face coverings between bites and sips. Is this really the new SOP?

KARFA

It would be odd if that really is BA policy now since it would be out of step with government guidelines which allow removal whilst eating and drinking. The guidance states you put it back on once you have finished eating or drinking, not between bites and sips. No cc have said that to me during my 30+ flights since July.

I am sure the purser was well meaning, but it is maybe a slightly over zealous interpretation of the rules by them?

scottishpoet

was the pax chancing their arm and taking 10 or 15 minutes between bites/sips in order to avoid the mask wearing for as long as possible?

Cap'n Benj

It’s not reasonable to leave it off while you nurse a glass of wine or bowl of nuts for an hour

While eating an actual meal is obviously a very different thing

corporate-wage-slave

I'd only add to to KARFA's reply, that from discussing this (in a socially distant way of course) with BA crew, some cabin crew are getting fed up with people who seemingly take a very long time to consume their food and / or drink, when most passengers are very conscientious in this area. And other passengers complain about it too. I think the word from the top is that cabin crew won't get into trouble if they take a strong line on the issue, so if there is a judgement call that goes toward zealousness, then that would be better than falling on the side of pragmatism. In this scenario I'd say "oops sorry" and take the Chris Wallace advice, it is not worth escalating, I feel.

BA have said they are following government guidelines. The relevant statutory instruments (of which there are now quite a few) all have this line in it, allowing this dispensation for those otherwise required to wear face masks:
"where it is reasonably necessary for P to eat or drink, P removes their face covering to eat or drink"
and that's it.

KARFA

Good point. Maybe that's why no one has ever said anything to me. I only nurse a drink when there is a danger of me paying for the next round!

paulaf

Interesting, my recent flight was like that, I was told to put mine back on between sips too, I can't help it if it takes me 2 hours to drink the wine.

corporate-wage-slave

I hope you can see how that would look to crew / other passengers, even if it merely means you are a cautious drinker. We know a minority of people don't take this seriously and they are likely to be challenged if they persist. When you have a spectrum between say 5 minutes to 2 hours to consume a drink, it's those at the latter end who will, rightly or wrongly, come under the spotlight.

1Aturnleft

This now brings additional context to the finger pointing tell tale passenger that you wrote about in the catering thread. With respect, if you'd been making a miniature wine last 2 hours and not been replacing your mask throughout that time, you'd have had short shrift off of me too.

paulaf

Think I had about 2 champagnes and 4 bottles so no can't drink that in under an hour or barely 2 hours!

Agent69

The only reason for drinking slowly should be fear of not getting a refill.

There are clearly people out there swinging the lead when it comes to face mask policy, and I don't see any issues with enforcing it properly.

volar

I flew yesterday and the announcement about masks does seem to have changed, it’s a lot longer and more specific and included putting masks back on between ‘courses’ if I heard correctly.

Having said that, it wasn’t enforced at all. I saw an elderly gentleman standing in the galley talking to the crew for a good 20 minutes with his mask around his chin and nobody said anything to him about it (either the fact that he shouldn’t be there or that he should be wearing a mask).

BA crew don’t seem to be too proactive about this. On other airlines e.g LH much more so.

The_Bouncer

A perfectly reasonable rate of consumption.

lcylocal

I wonder if a couple of reminders might help? I think there is probably a hard core who want any we use not to wear their face masks but probably a bigger group who just forget to put them back on/are distracted.

Joshm300

I think there are probably quite a few people booking CE at the moment specifically for the reduced amount of time you need to spend wearing your mask. As the man next to me coming back from Naples in August said, “you’ve just got to keep drinking so you don’t have to wear the damn thing” - I was cracking on a bit so didn’t mind, but I certainly think you need to be gauge who you’re sitting close to and what they’re comfortable with, with regards to how much you wear it while eating and drinking.