macdrew

We must remember crew throughout all this unique BA debacle. Regardless of what is said on the twittersphere or in the various forums of the chattering classes, if crew are told that masks must be worn, masks need to be worn. There is no point in arguing, snarky comments or showing countless screenshots from around the interweb. A grip needs to be got. .

Ladyfliestheredwhiteandblues

Absolutely, respect and politeness to crew must be the watch word at all times. If I were travelling domestic now, and I certainly shall not, it would be a breezy and polite “I’m exempt” and I’m sure that would be the end of it. No need for any argument.

Ldnn1

Personally I don’t see how faking an exemption is respectful to crew or anyone else. I can’t stand masks but I don’t pretend I’m exempt.

Never Stansted

Why is your immediate assumption that someone is faking an exemption? She simply mentioned that she intends to inform the crew of her exemption. Ultimately for better or worse the exemptions are so broad that anyone who thinks they might have one probably does have one.

IAMORGAN

I agree and would wear one out of courtesy and path of least resistance.

However, I don’t know whether crew are being told to enforce compliance. For instance, if all they are asked to do is include a sentence in the SCCM welcome then there is no need for them to take it upon themselves to be the ‘face mask police’. I fully accept, however, that it ultimately becomes their problem when a customer then complains that somebody isn’t wearing one and they can they either try to mediate or risk the complaining passenger getting into a heated argument with the ‘non-compliant’ passenger. There is also the wider ‘broken windows theory’ point - ie if you let rules on mask wearing slide, will people next push back against other safety rules. So there is a logic to enforcing rules - or not having them rather than just ignoring ones certain people don’t personally like.

In my personal view, the sooner they are no longer mandatory the better.

Tobias-UK

Yes, the silence from BA on this is the most frustrating aspect. We do not know what ‘compliance’ issue BA is worried about, and the mixed messages on its Twitter feed and social media which will cause confusion for passengers.

A little clarity is all that is needed at this point, and perhaps an indication of when the mask mandate might be rescinded.

MiraculousM

Unfortunately if you know anything about twitter, your algorithm is what makes you see what you do. Twitter is actually, in no way, left leaning.

As someone that has worked in the NHS throughout the pandemic, the Uk has been awful with masks, abusing the sunflower lanyards and with a lot of grown ups throwing their toys out of the pram because they didnt want to wear one. The numbers of admissions in the hospitals are going up again since everything was dropped and businesses like wilko are telling staff they wont get paid if they test positive and have no symptoms and dont go to work.

I, for one, am glad they are keeping the masks. And to the person that said its not going to kill you if you get it on a plane.. its not killing you.. but some passengers may have relatives that could get very sick. Not to bring up long covid. I assume most of you, like myself, are not the youngest of people? Knowing a few staff members that have long covid, its not a good thing to have.

Silver Fox

The other fact is that due to their incompetence they have, once again, dropped their frontline staff right in it again. Hopefully behind the scenes they have apologised for this to them. It takes a rare skill to get this sort of thing so badly wrong.

SamYeager

You're entitled to your opinion as to whether it's respectful to crew. Others may feel that it provides crew with a convenient reason not to press further. In any case I thought people had to provide some form of medical proof that they were exempt to airlines.

Ldnn1

Is that the new Band 1 breakfast?

Never Stansted

At the same time places like Germany and Italy have been, by your standards, much better at enforcing mask mandates - and yet have seen remarkably similar waves to our own over the past year. The question is not whether masks 'work' as we can all define that in different ways, but whether mask mandates make a meaningful difference to the trajectory of the pandemic in a world where omicron and its sub-variants are dominant. I find it very difficult to see the case that they do.

I presume you accept that any form of Zero Covid policy or similar is now entirely impossible and hence my question would be 'if not now, when?'. Covid will always be around so should BA retain masks on planes forever too? That strikes me as a significant imposition in a situation where those who are deeply concerned about Covid now have access to plentiful supplies of N95 masks or better which serve to protect the wearer. The requirement for collective action only holds up when it is our societal aim to suppress Covid.

I hope I'm not straying too far off topic but I'm just trying to understand when, if ever, those who object to BA making a policy change now would be content for them to do so, and what's led them to form that view.

CT-UK

Well I for one will keep wearing my mask when flying. It makes no difference to me and I can mouth obscenities at people and they cant see. I can't get my head around people who wont fly or haven't flown for 2 years because of a mask but still go shopping.

I have managed to dodge Covid for the last 2 years until this week. Of course I don't know where it came from but I felt very uncomfortable in a 40 minute snaking queue at LHR waiting for passports where maybe only 70% of people had masks on and we packed together.

JD1905

I’m sympathetic towards the crew. But i’m at a point where i’m pissed off now.

The very least they can do is remove their posts stating masks are no longer required and release a statement explaining that.

For those who haven’t seen my post elsewhere, I was on a domestic flight BHD to LHR this morning. I didn’t take a mask with me because BA said that it was no longer required. I explained this to staff at the airport and even showed them the statement BA Issued. Only to then be told by crew that I was wrong and that BA’s statement and social media posts are incorrect.

I’m not one to love a moan, but i’d love to have a stress free flight without any issues at some point.

MiraculousM

As i said, hospitalisations are going up here in the UK and an already underfunded NHS is struggling with this.. general ICUs (not including cardiac icus or neurology icus) in london usually have about 15 beds per ward. There are what more covid patients in ICUs than there are beds in every Trust. And if you didnt know, ICU beds have one on one nursing staff. There arent enough nurses to be with patients. When do i think that we should stop wearing masks? When the ICUs are filled with covid patients and wards arent having to turn into ICUs to fill this capacity. This is slowly happening.. the Omicron varient is less severe but is still putting people in ICU. It is getting better. But its not there yet. And thats why i dont think the mask mandate should be lifted.

Honestly, i am going to continue to wear masks on public transport and anywhere i travel following any mask mandate being lifted anyways so really, it makes no difference to me (and yes i wear N95s) but it amuses me that prior to this, we would wear surgical masks all day and never did i hear anyone complain but people are so up in arms about having to wear one that they are planning on cancelling a trip? If you want to go so badly, you will wear a mask.. i say this as someone who hasnt left the country in over two years whereas before i used to go away once a month.

Bohinjska Bistrica

A case in point, here, of the mess BA have caused which is entirerly of their own making. You can't just delete references to something and pretend it didn't happen. If you make a statement and it's no longer true, you have to publicly rescind it.

If you don't, staff in the airport and/or crew can tell people they need a mask and deal with annoyed assengers as a result of your incompetence instead. That isn't fair.