Why airlines say travelers must wear COVID face masks, then don’t enforce the rule
Frequent flier Mark Graban was about halfway through his flight from Los Angeles to DFW Airport when he noticed that several people in first class weren’t wearing face masks.
Graban, an author and management consultant based in Colleyville, asked a man across the aisle why he wasn’t wearing a mask. The man responded that he had dropped his mask earlier in the day — but moments later that man retrieved a mask from his carry-on bag, and proceeded to put it on.
Graban said that man drank several alcoholic beverages during the flight, and at one point about midway through the journey left the mask dangling from only one ear, presumably to make it easier to sip beverages.
“American claims they put safety first. Not a chance,” Graban said in a phone interview. “The flight attendants ... are not enforcing this mask policy.”
As air carriers such as Fort Worth-based American Airlines make efforts to relaunch their services more than two months after hundreds of airplanes were grounded due to COVID-19, the mask requirement has emerged as a sticky issue in the cabin.
American Airlines officials have acknowledged that, while they do require customers to wear masks prior to boarding a plane, they aren’t enforcing the requirement once the airplane door closes.
Privately, airline officials say they don’t want flight crew members to potentially escalate an argument among passengers over masks.
For example, if a fight over masks were to ensue, a flight could be diverted from its original destination, which could potentially leave passengers stranded in a strange city. Such a predicament would run counter to the airline’s primary goal of getting travelers from one place to another with minimal social contact.
“American, like other U.S. airlines, requires customers to wear a face covering while on board, and this requirement is enforced at the gate while boarding,” American spokesman Josh Freed said in an email. “We also remind customers with announcements both during boarding and at departure. Some passengers are exempt, such as young children and those with a medical reason why they cannot wear a mask. The policy also does not apply while eating or drinking.”
‘Could undermine federal investment’
Americans’ pilots union wants the federal government to step in and broaden the mask requirement, so that travelers are wearing the protective gear from the time they arrive at their departing airport until they arrive at their destination.
But the Federal Aviation Administration has given no indication that it’s inclined to pass such as requirement.
Dennis Tajer, spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American’s pilots, said the lack of face masks could cause the virus to spread on airplane flights. That, he said, could lead to further economic peril for the airlines.
American, for example, is slated to receive $5.8 billion in federal stimulus money to get through a dramatic economic downturn without laying off workers.
“It could undermine that federal investment if we don’t get this right,” Tajer said in a phone interview. “It’s selfish to not do it (wear a mask). You’re not making the choice to not protect yourself. You’re making a choice to not protect me.”
The Allied Pilots Association has called upon the FAA to adopt the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID-19 guidelines to ensure flight crews are protected from the spread of the virus while at work. Those guidelines include provisions for everyone aboard an aircraft to wear a mask.
But FAA administrator Steve Dickson, in an April 14 letter to another pilots’ union, the Air Line Pilots Association, wrote that such health issues were beyond the FAA’s mission.
“While the FAA remains steadfast in its focus on safety of flight, we are not a public health agency,” Dickson wrote in a letter to Air Line Pilots Association president Joseph G. DePete. “We must look to other U.S. Government agencies for guidance on public and occupational health.”
‘Make the effort’
Graban, who is a member of American’s AAdvantage Executive Platinum rewards program — a designation available to travelers who fly more than 100,000 miles per year — said he complained to an airline liaison about the lack of mask enforcement.
The liaison was polite and explained that flight crews are supposed to enforce the policy by at least communicating with passengers who refuse to cover their faces.
“I suggested they need to at least make an effort,” Graban said. “I don’t expect perfection, but I’m seeing little to no effort.”
