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Lack of face coverings at LHR - still required

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Lack of face coverings at LHR - still required

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Old Mar 3, 2022, 12:23 am
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Lack of face coverings at LHR - still required
The Heathrow web site is quite clear about the continued wearing of face coverings whilst at the airport:

Yet I would say that about 30% of passengers are not wearing them today whilst moving around the airport. Staff have clearly given up trying to persuade/cajole people in to wearing one.
I'm a bit shocked!
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 12:43 am
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Been like that since mid-2021 I reckon, and not only at LHR (see public transport). There's also been quite a surprising growth in the number of people with hidden disabilities, judging by how many sunflower lanyards there are around.

I guess that ship has sailed.
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 5:56 am
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Not helped by mixed messaging across the industry - some of the low cost airlines are dropping the need for face masks -Jet2, Ryanair etc.
(Granted, they may not all fly from LHR)
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Old Mar 3, 2022, 9:03 pm
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Of the 5 Customs staff hanging around at T5 the other day, 2 were not wearing masks so this is not limited to pesky customers.
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Old Mar 4, 2022, 2:44 am
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Same for the (armed) police.
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Old Mar 4, 2022, 6:30 am
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Originally Posted by FlyingNowhere
Not helped by mixed messaging across the industry - some of the low cost airlines are dropping the need for face masks -Jet2, Ryanair etc.
(Granted, they may not all fly from LHR)
And not required in shops and some other airports eg Manchester and Gatwick.
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Old Mar 4, 2022, 8:07 am
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Originally Posted by paulaf
And not required in shops and some other airports eg Manchester and Gatwick.
They do request you wear them at Gatwick, but many do not. I am in the No 1 lounge now and hardly anyone has them, not even the staff.
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Old Mar 5, 2022, 1:51 am
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Originally Posted by lhrsfo
Of the 5 Customs staff hanging around at T5 the other day, 2 were not wearing masks so this is not limited to pesky customers.
I don't think I've ever seen a masked UKBF agent, ever.
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Old Mar 12, 2022, 2:56 am
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I was amazed when I walked around Heathrow in Decemeber at the lack of Covid-related protections. Lot's of people without masks, found it hard to find hand santaizer, when I found one it was empty....
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Old Mar 12, 2022, 4:02 pm
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UK has never been strict about masks
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Old Mar 13, 2022, 6:12 am
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Arriving at LHR on Thursday morning, pre passport check was 95+% masked (but mixing mostly with pax off a UA flight, but probably around 50% after passport control. People just didn’t put them on again.
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Old Mar 13, 2022, 1:11 pm
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Originally Posted by lhrsfo
Arriving at LHR on Thursday morning, pre passport check was 95+% masked (but mixing mostly with pax off a UA flight, but probably around 50% after passport control. People just didn’t put them on again.
LHR can’t really say anything as there is no legal mandate for it, it’s just the airports own rules that have no real legal basis. You can’t be fined in the UK for not wearing a mask so the people who don’t want to wear one don’t need to in reality.

No one questioned me last week in the airport.
funnily enough in Switzerland you don’t need to wear one at all at the airport and the cabin crew remind you to wear one when you are actually getting on the plane !
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Old Mar 13, 2022, 4:00 pm
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Originally Posted by ahmetdouas
LHR can’t really say anything as there is no legal mandate for it, it’s just the airports own rules that have no real legal basis.
Of course, they have legal basis, derived from their ownership. They could legally require airport users to wear a pink tutu with polka dots as a condition of admission to the airport if they wanted to. The question is not one of legal authority (which they clearly have) but rather of willingness to enforce (which, for a multiplicity of reasons, is not a priority for them).
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Old Mar 14, 2022, 12:33 pm
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Old Mar 14, 2022, 2:50 pm
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I’ve seen mask usage drop quite drastically, pretty much everywhere, since Freedumb Day 2.0.
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