ratechaser

Perhaps it's just me, but the only new thing I've learned from this thread is that the word "milquetoast" actually exists...

Often1

This is the value.

These stories get reported in the media and the louts have to question themselves as to whether they want to risk their future travel. Some of these people may hold jobs which require travel in the future and it certainly would not be a great experience to hold a job in the UK and have to explain that one cannot fly BA.

IAMORGAN

I really struggle to know what to think.

On the one hand, if there is a rule it ought to be enforced. On the other the OP clearly doesn’t fear for their life as they talk about future trips so is this more about the principle?

It annoys me on trains but more because of the rule breaking (ie if I have to wear the bloody thing so should everyone else!) than because I think it increases the risk.

I personally don’t find them uncomfortable and can quite happily forget I’ve got one on. My brother who has COPD swears blind they affect his breathing. I’ve seen a video where somebody hooked themselves up to a pulse oxometer & seemed to prove wearing a mask did not affect blood oxygen levels. But I accept as well perception is reality and I know my brother genuinely holds this belief.

It’s a tough one. Ultimately, I suppose it comes back to you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to protect your own safety - I’ve moved train carriages before & if I felt my safety was threatened I’d reseat myself or request an offload. Appreciate at 38k feet that may be difficult but you always run the risk of encountering people who don’t play by the rules. I don’t think you can ever eradicate rule breakers 100% so just one of those things we can like or lump ultimately. Aint gonna change!

rockflyertalk

These silly sods (I’m being polite) might think they’re getting away with it now and no doubt the type to not want a vaccine but when or if gets to a stage when an airline requests proof of being vaccinated, that’s when they really shoot themselves in the foot.

Definitely worth a complaint. The virus isn’t going away and poor staff need their jobs without the worry of getting sick from this type of behaviour.

What makes me very sad about humanity, amongst many things, is that staff across many industries have to wear masks 40-70 hours a week and yet Joe public refuse to wear one to go about their general lives for a brief period.

What’s happened to common decency?!

wythy

You are aware that the concept of the mask is to protect others from yourself and not the other way around ?

Often1

The complaint is also worth it because the more of them there are, the more it demonstrates that health is a customer service matter to the customers.

Many poorly-trained staff think that by not annoying the violators, they keep their business. They need to understand that they lose others.

IAMORGAN

I am, yes.

Often1

It also makes for confusion. The same cabin crew working a flight to or from the US a few days later may well forget that the masks are required by US law and that it only takes an appropriate complaint, easily enough sent off from the air, to have the flight met by the gendarmerie.

Cap'n Benj

Hence his reason for leaving a carriage when others weren’t wearing a mask to protect the others around them.

People who don’t wear them are selfish, it’s as simple as that. The very few who genuinely can’t should think twice about travelling/ going to the shops unless absolutely necessary.

wythy

No, he clearly stated that he felt his own safety was threatened.

adrianlondon

By other people not wearing masks.

lhrsfo

As the OP, I didn’t fear for my life as a) I am under 65 so unlikely to die from it and b) I had my first vaccine but only 17 days ago. I have spent the last year trying to avoid the disease and will no doubt spend the next year doing the same. However, I do have to earn a living which is why I was on the flight in the first place. As for other trips, they are all part of this one.

There really are two issues: first why does BA put a clear statement on its website that customers must wear masks for the entire duration with no listed exceptions and then not enforce it? Presumably to mislead people into thinking the environment on board is safer than it is. And second, how does BA expect to win business back when they allow selfish oafs - the exact types who won’t get vaccinated - to flout the rules?

Cap'n Benj

Yes, his safety was threatened. Other people were not wearing masks.

He was wearing one to protect them. They were not wearing one to protect him.

bon mot

I can be in the throes of a debilitating asthma attack and still have decent O2 levels -- my lungs just work harder to obtain them. Masks labor my inhalations but are quite doable as long as I am not having to exert myself too much (running through an airport masked would be out of the question). Your brother may in fact be describing an organic reality.

IDM79

So if this is the case, then I should be free to not wear a mask anywhere since I've tested negative for the virus and I'm willing to accept the nearly 100% odds that anyone halfway healthy who catches this virus will be perfectly fine. Spread the word.