DCAproducer

This is definitely true.

Also, think about it from a business perspective. COVID upended the global travel industry, among others. Delta knows they need to get back to generating revenue and a profit. If that means you tell customers to mask up, you do it. Plus, Delta, like other airlines, is an international carrier. They need to make sure they meet requirements everywhere they fly. I was at DTW last week when the Air France flight to CDG started boarding. They made an announcement that only a medical style mask or N90 was allowed on board. No personal fabric masks, no neck gators, etc. they had a lineup set to replace masks on anyone not in compliance.

Unfortunately I think we’re stuck with masks for longer than some might think.

El Boocho

I generally agree with this and the other similar sentiments expressed in this thread. One point I'd like to make is that of the 5% who tested positive, a very very small number get sick beyond minor symptoms and many have no symptoms at all. I'd be fine if they ended the mask mandates today, but after this past year, I'm okay with keeping them a while longer if it makes a difference overall. I don't think they will stay forever like some of the post 9/11 restrictions. In a better world, people would decide to wear a mask on a plane or in public if they were sick with a cold/flu/other contagious virus that they might pass to others. After the past year it just seems like common decency to me. I apply this to myself too. I'm certainly guilt in the past of flying when I was sick with a bad cold or cough and I might have made others sick.

Bradhattan

(I picture you stomping your foot and a big pout on your face as you wrote that) Back to the germaine, it is a less confrontational tool for FA's to use with noncompliant passengers instead of directly confronting the actual offender(s). Everyone gets the reminder....pretty smart! I am sure this process is both HR and insurance company approved!

Please give the FA's a break (I know, you said you haven't flown commercial, but I think if you had, based on your comment, you might be on a banned list for awhile) and stop thinking the rules are meant to inconvenience you for the sake of inconvenience....things WILL return to normal: skipped upgrades, delays, rare 2 aisle aircraft domestically, underwhelming food, change fees.....hang in there buddy! Woodford!

beachmouse

Even without a federal mandate, airplanes will probably be one of the last places to eliminate mandatory masks. Their customers have generally been supportive of those rules as a compromise in terms of mitigating risk while getting on with their lives, anyone that flies even a moderate amount has probably gotten sick from a hacking fellow passenger at some point, and being shoulder to shoulder with a stranger of unknown health status that you're stuck next to for the next several hours (at least in a bar, it's easy to move away from someone who seems a little 'off').... well I can't see the airlines being early adapters in going mask-free compared to the grocery stores and such.

Duke787

I just want to know if all of the people complaining about the mask-wearing also have started threads every to complain about the following every time they've encountered it over the last 20 years:

1) Complain about having to go through TSA before boarding a plane even though they aren't carrying weapons or explosives
2) Complain about having to pour out a drink (or throw it away) before going through security even though they don't have any plans to use said drink as an explosive
3) Complain about having to remove their shoes before going through security (if not TSA precheck) even though they don't intend to use their sneakers as an explosive
4) Complain about not being allowed to get up and go to the bathroom in the front while the pilots are using them even though they don't intend to cause harm to the pilots
5) Complain about not being allowed into the cockpit during flight to see the views even though they don't intend to cause harm or take control of the plane away from the pilots

Travel is full of rules. Many of them enacted as responses to specific events -- some of which are eventually rolled back, other have become permanent and just part of flying. We've been dealing with 9/11 security measures for 20 years and I don't hear most people complaining, yet 12-18 months of public health measures in the face of the biggest public health crisis in years (one that has killed far more Americans than 9/11 did) and somehow it's the most unfair thing in the world.

Give me a break and deal with it, it's just not that big of an issue.

And yes, I've flown on 10 flights post vaccination and yes wearing a mask the whole time wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world but if that's what we need to get back to a place where we can fly again without masks, that's what we're going to do.

cmd320

I'm not sure about around here, but these are probably the three most complained about things with regards to air travel by the general public over the last two decades.

That said, I would much rather have a plane full of unmasked passengers than a plane full of passengers carrying weapons or explosives...

readywhenyouare

Yes, in my opinion everything you listed has not made anything safer, just the illusion of safety.

exwannabe

That is an interesting question. But I really doubt it.

Almost certainly true that such a permanent mandate would reduce transmission of the common flu (the most significant issue). But we do not care much about that anyway.

EarlVolFan

I thought that Delta had made it clear that gaiters or masks with vents could not be used as face coverings on Delta flights, but I saw 3 guys board my SAT-ATL flight today wearing gaiters without being addressed by the gate agent or flight attendants.

flyerCO

No, it's not changed AFAIK. Did they have a mask on underneath it?

It's also possible they went through approval not to wear standard masks. I know some have found getting approval easier if they're wearing something at all versus nothing.

MCO Flyer

I’ve rarely seen the neck gaiter policy enforced. I sat next to someone on a DL flight wearing a thin neck gaiter last month and no one ever said anything to him.

estedman

Double layer gaiters are allowed.

FlyerWx

FWIW, on my 4 flights last week, the FAs only said that the face covering has to cover your nose and mouth and no exhaust valve -- no mention of "no gaiters".

TATLTAIL

Coverage is spotty at best in what I've seen since I returned to flying in April (post vaccine completion). Most crew have been good about reminding folks, but noticed in May that they stopped making announcements about "double up gaiters" and "no vents". (Even witnessed a GA in ATL with mask around her neck, mouth and neck exposed, for a good 30', as well as a FA ATL-SFO who couldn't have cared less in early april that three pax chatted with her, mask off, in the galley...). Needless to say, it's all going to be spotty for a while - most are good, but there are folks who are just done with it and either don't care or don't care enough. I'm never sure if I should report them or just let it slide.

spudley007

I have seen a good number of passengers on flights with the neck gaiters. I know at one point some GAs would announce they weren't allowed, but I haven't heard that lately. Heck, a NRSA Pilot had one on who was commuting home.