Airline Trade Association Calls For End of Face Masks for Air Travel
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) – which represents 290 airlines in 117 countries comprising around 83% of global air traffic – has called for the end of face mask requirements for air travel. Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General, said:
The past few weeks have seen a dramatic shift by many governments around the world to ease or remove COVID-19-related travel restrictions and requirements as the disease enters its endemic phase. It’s vital that this process continue and even accelerate, to more quickly restore damaged global supply chains and enable people to resume their lives. One step to encourage a return to normality is to remove mask mandates for air travel. It makes no sense to continue to require masks on aeroplanes when they are no longer being required in shopping malls, theatres or offices. Aircraft are equipped with highly sophisticated hospital quality filtration systems and have much higher air flow and air exchange rates than most other indoor environments where mask mandates already have been removed.
Is this call directed to governments or airlines? As far as I am aware, most remaining mask mandates for air travel are imposed by airlines themselves, not by external authorities. So perhaps Mr. Walsh is appealing primarily to his own members here to help themselves by removing their remaining measures and returning things to normal. Presumably the myth still prevails in many parts of the industry that masks instil confidence in customers rather than fear and irritation. Jet2 recently announced the end of masking on its flights. Let’s hope other airlines heed Mr. Walsh’s call and follow suit, and that before long travel can get back to what it was like in 2019, without any Covid-related measures at all.
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Well they’re not going anywhere in the bloody Dutch airlines. And by the looks of the next press conference they’re staying on public transport too! Absolutely bonkers. It takes me an hour to fly home to the UK from Schiphol and I’m meant to wear a muzzle, yet I can go sit in the cinema for 2 hours sans face nappy! Same goes for a 5-10min bus journey. Honestly, 2020 really was the death knell of science and the arrival of ‘Clown World Logic’! Mind you, I never flipping comply anyway but an upcoming KLM flight is gonna be interesting….
https://nltimes.nl/2022/03/11/outbreak-team-meeting-whether-relax-covid-rules
Crazy isn’t it ….
Well I’ll use the usual tactic of having a water bottle glued to my hand ( because who can drink through a mask? ) or I’ll resort to being that plane passenger who is on the verge of puking or who is on the verge of a panic attack due to being an anxious traveler. Literally, who is gonna be that brave cabin crew person who calls somebody’s bluff if they’re imminently gonna barf or kick off because they’re hyperventilating on a plane? I’ve got it all planned! LOL
Sounds good enough for “I’m exempt” to be obvious.
My 30 year old son is very sceptical and hasn’t fallen for the propaganda. He recently fly to Glasgow (ok an internal flight) but he informed EasyJet that he was exempt from wearing a mask and not a problem. He informed his girlfriend who was coming from another airport to do the same and she had no problems either. Just inform the airline that you’re exempt and print the form off. We shouldn’t have to be doing this nonsense but the rebellion has to start somewhere.
Good to hear but, unless Airlines are and Airports are exempt from mask exemptions, there should be no question of printing forms or even Exempt Lanyards.
Simply saying “I’m exempt” still suffices in law and anyone disputing this is a Disability Discrimination criminal already.
This has been the case since masks were first introduced (ok, ‘mandated’) eighteen months ago.
The Airlines fancy lawyers will be well aware of this.
“The Airlines fancy lawyers will be well aware of this.”
I expect they couldn’t care less. How many airlines have been taken to court over this so far? How many people have, with the threat of missing their flight, stopped trying to argue at the check-in/security/boarding gate and put a face mask on?
I can imagine the psychological abusers of SAGE having ‘meetings’ (drinks + cheese get-togethers) and all being there without face masks, and all having a good laugh at how they got everyone to go round in face masks!
Anyway, another way to get the plebs off the planes – raise the fares due to the cost of fuel going up.
Sorry Emerald but I was never taken in by the mask nonsense and don’t believe the overwhelming mass of the population were as our media would have us believe.
The evidence for this is to be seen in supermarkets, granted I only used the smaller ones and now not at all, but I never once wote a mask I’m any shop and never encounted any hostility as a result of that.
I posted yesterday that while being an enthusiastic smoker I would not encourage others to take it up but I have many times encouraged people not to be taken on by madk propaganda, even giving away Mask Exempt landlords in the early days. They were never refused.
I do recognise that catching a plane or not is different to be getting dirty.looks from a felliew Tesco customer at the till.
I watched Freeview telly for three hours earlier today, first time in months and could not believe the crassness with which Covid is still being presented at every opportunity or that viewers take the slightest interest in it.
The media presenters must thing they are talking to 10 year olds.
It’s a pity that just saying ”sod off” isn’t sufficient.
“Just inform the airline that you’re exempt and print the form off”
What form?
Their pre.loadong form I believe.
What’s a ‘pre-loading’ form?
And “print the form off” – suggests something you would do at home.
I’ve flown plenty and have never come across a ‘pre-loading’ form.
Dunno, haven’t flown in years. SMELLY MELLY brought it up easier in this thread.
And so far no-one has been willing to clarify what this form is…
…without real facts and information, it all boils down to drivel.
Who runs Schiphol, surely not KLM?
Usually such a relaxed place having just the one terminal so no transfers scurrying around the place.
Royal Schiphol Group is a Dutch airport management company.
The Schiphol Group is owned by the Dutch Ministry of Finance (69.77%), the municipalities of Amsterdam (20.03%) and Rotterdam (2.2%) and Aéroports de Paris (8.00%).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schiphol_Group
Thank you, they may own it but do they run it?
Just. Stop. Enforcing. It.
It really is that simple. Stop. Just stop.
We are doing this to ourselves.
The IATA should have told governments throughout the world to get lost from the start.
Begining with the smallest States because only the largest could contest the combined weight of the Worlds airlines and they would soon have had to fall in line.
Perhaps Ultra Capitalist Airlines don’t really believe in the Free Market and Consumer Choice saying just that “they believe” masks improve consumer confidence.
Jesus wept. 5.30pm: it’s school home time but instead of Jakanory and Blue Peter on the telly the BBC are churning out a bloody Covid weepathom. Time to turn it off.
It’s not up to Railway or Bus Company
staff to enforce mask mandates. Is there something different about Airline staff except their contract of employment ?
I see that there were violent clashes between rival football hooligans in Seville Spain a couple of nights ago – apparently West Ham United and Eintracht Frankfurt fans fought running street battles using bottles and sticks – Spanish police had to use rubber bullets to prevent further clashes between rival fans.
Hmmm … so it appears that violent football thugs can enter Spain quite easily without a hitch and I suspect that many of those involved in the fighting would have had a previous history of football violence … but unvaccinated travellers like myself continue to face tough hurdles to enter the country.
Find out who is enforcing the mask mandate affecting you; if it’s your Airline use another one, another destination or don’t go but tell them why.
Exactly what I did, left my feedback at EasyJet and told Rynair to stick their masks up their arses.
Hit them in the pocket
👏👏👏Congratulations!👏👏👏
Happily I’ve only had to do that once; sadly in the working man’s cafe that I’ve used for decades and supported as soon as Lockdown Proper became Lockdown Lite.
It got a little bit harder with the introduction of masks (summer 2021) and the owners chose to insist so rudely I forgot to claim exemption, just growled and walked out.
I telephoned them later to make sure I had not misunderstood then made my annoyance plain. Not been back since.
Or maybe they are trying to cover all bases. Pretend like they are forced to keep these mandates just so they don’t have to remove them. And why would they not want to remove them? Because if someone gets sick after a flight, they want to be able to say that they took all precautions and are therefore not responsible.
I used to spend a lot of time doing interviews in hotels as part of my employers recruitment team.
When they introduced air filtration systems late 1980s, Trusthouse Forte, those systems themselves set off my asthma/COPD so I couldn’t stay overnight.
Actually that was to my advantage since I got booked to sleep in the nearest Ye Olde Coaching Inn which was much preferable.
Last time I noticed Pilot Cabin air filtration systems were far superior to the regular passenger cabins which just regurgitated the same air around and around through a bit of charcoal.
O/T oh dear but two Youtubes for the price of one.
Vologda Mapping updates daily.
Not sure what’s happened to Trans-Dnestre which should be pink; the long thin bit next to Moldova.
They used to export the rather excellent Modovan Champagne until the EU made them stop using that name.
Ushanka Show is good for USSR domestic life.
SCAREDMAMA I’m still here safe and sound, got your message this Friday morning💖
But ‘scientists’ have ‘proved’ that you can’t get Covid sitting down.
Unless you’re an MP in the Houses of Parliament. Then you take it off to stand up, and put it on to sit down.
Don’t worry, it’s all quite logical.
And if you’re the ‘Speaker’ ( in the Canadian House of Commons anyway ) you get to tell everybody else to put their’s on while you are somehow immune. Because ‘science’..
Or attend a Downing Street party… boom, boom
Not really. If you work in an office you can dispense with the BS face talisman once you’re sat at your desk, but get up to go to the loo/make a coffee at your peril! Therefore wouldn’t this make wheelchair users exempt? Because Covid knows that it can only strike at 130cms or more. It’s like ‘vertically challenged tiggy’! LOL That’s why eating in a restaurant makes you invincible but sit on a bus and you’re fucked! 😉
Been the same these past 18 months- 2 years.
I hope so. I will be flying England Scotland early April – I was thinking that I could do this mask free as by then even Scotland’s mask requirement should have ended but I wasn’t sure. Is that correct?
If your flying Easyjet just apply online that you’re exempt and print the form off if challenged. My son flew to Glasgow last weekend with no problems, he was challenged once but showed the form and was ok.
Just asking to see their form is technically a Disability Discrimination offence but I usually let them off.
Dunno, get the overnight sleeper train.
I used to get a taxi from the pub @10pm to St. Pancras (I think, after 40 years).
Train got to Aberdeen, or Inverness, about 7.30am the following morning but you could stay onboard for a while since there wasn’t much to do in Aberdeen at 7am on a wet Wednesday morning (might have changed after Oil).
And still “I’m exempt” overulers all.
Repost, original this morning disappeared.
Dodgey Geezer told this morning about Cardif Philharmonic(?) sacking the Nutcracker because Tchaikovsky sounds a bit, er, Russian so ‘inappropriate’
LONDO MOLLARI reminded us of Churchills favourite musical ditty in times stress during the Hitler war.
The Cardiff Philharmonic will not be playing the 1812 Overture because the fact that it was composed by Tchaikovsky might distress a member of the orchestra.
Karajan, by the way, was a member of the Nazi Party – which caused some muttering, but not cancelling. People were able to divorce his political background from his conducting, and judge them separately.
Well, I see the United States Federal Aviation Administration has announced its going to continue masks for at least another month. And seeing as much of the world takes its cues for all things flying from the U.S. – then I’d expect the wretched things to hang around at least that long.
Once put in place, air travel restrictions, like so many other restrictions on our personal freedom, seem to be almost impossible to get rid of. We’re still taking off our shoes (and banned from carrying liquids) twenty one years after imbecile Richard Reid tried to set his shoes on fire. Do “shoe bombs” pose a serious threat to aviation security today? Probably not. But I doubt I’ll see an end to this particular piece of security theatre in my lifetime.
UK pub licensing hours were first introduced as a ‘temporary measure’ during WW1 in an attempt to stop munitions workers from turning up pissed.
Same applies to laws outlawing cannabis and other ‘soft drugs’ almost altogether.
Incone Tax likewise but that was during the Napoleonic Wars a century earlier.
The biggest obstacle is probably the “educated” classes who have made masks a symbol of adherence to certain political and ideological beliefs.
After two years of linking masks to being part of the anti-Trump, politically progressive camp and branding non-mask wearers as anti-science, anti-vax, covid deniers, it’s going to be hard for them to drop their masks.
They probably won’t do it until they can find some other visible way of signalling their superiority.
” . . . of signalling their obescience”.
black skin and/or sandals is a giveaway
“They probably won’t do it until they can find some other visible way of signalling their superiority.”
Are we at the mass public burning of books by Chekov, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky etc stage yet?
From my understanding, that sort of thing really brings in the brownie points for (racial) superioriety.
And have Rachmaninoff. Tchaikovsky, etc been removed from Radio 3 playlists, I wonder?
They should be. You can tell from the moment you hear the first notes that, although those composers are long dead, they would have supported the invasion of the Ukraine.
Is that the same Willie Walsh that was in charge of BA for many years. A very little cosy club indeed, methinks.
Friday 11/3/22 17.00hrs. Channel 5 News, opening Statement.
“As fears grow that Russia might use chemical weapon”
Taking their cue from the BBC in Normalising chemical weapons in the Great British public mind on the basis of no evidence whatsoever.
What are they up to?
Most of the media are a ?1*!ing disgrace
When Lufthansa skips the mask requirement, it might finally be over.
The German Angst airline will be the last, not least because the Chief Panicmongerer is Health Minister over there and, thanks to the Covid panic, the state owns a chunk of it again.
. . .the state own a huge chunk of it.
Answeres a question; last time I noticed Lufthansa had gone bust.
Finnair at present:
“Our cabin crew wear surgical masks during the flight, and also you are required to wear a mask from boarding to leaving the aircraft. You can remove the mask while you’re eating or drinking for a limited time. Children under the age of 7 are not required to wear a mask. However, please be advised that on our flights to/from the USA, all passengers above the age of 2 must wear a mask.”
I wonder what your quota of eating and drinking time is on the Finnair flights? Have you got to down a beer in 2 minutes and inhale a bag of crisps in 30 seconds?
This just highlights the cancer of “rule making” that has accompanied this fake pandemic from day one. Everybody from leaders of countries to minimum wage tosspots doing menial work has taken a sick delight in enforcing rules and behaviours on other people.
I only wish more people were as aggressive and impolite as I am, it never would have got off the ground.
If uncooperative, such as refusing to wear a face mask when boarding a plane, my guess is that you’d get pulled off before departure. If awkward during the flight there’d be Police waiting to escort you at the other end. You can try to make a drink last 3 hours but the person next to you may complain to the cabin staff that you are taking the piss. I have travelled on trains here (4 to 5 hours each way) without having a face mask on, but one close by in case the conductor/ticket inspector gets stroppy – hasn’t happened. I am of the opinion that it is not good to have a mask over your nose and mouth for many hours. It must be obvious that the wearing of face masks for the past 2 years has been a farce – they don’t work for starters (the air must come from somewhere! – from the sides, and top and bottom!), they certainly don’t work when you haven’t got one sitting down in a pub! And there’s no ‘pandemic’ anyway – they just showed some pictures of some Chinese pretending to ‘drop dead’ in the streets of Wuhan, and some… Read more »
Same arguments as 18 months ago but you didn’t mention that wearing a mask turns your face into a nice petri dish for the ‘virus’.
Not my downtick btw.
Last time I looked our local pedestrian Civid Marshals had taken to wandering in groups three on roads that looked busy but with minimum footfall.
Tired of shoppers ignoring their attempts to enforce make-it-up-as-they-go-along stupid rules.
The should never have been mandated, they’re useless and disgusting, Just like the people who wear them.
I was so pleased at Jet2’s stance that I booked flights the moment they announced it.
I’m in the travel business, Jet2 are a decent company from all my dealings with them and customer feedback I have received. Nothing earth shattering just thought I’d mention.
Well worth a mention, such companies deserve it and should be supported.
🥰 😀 Jet2 ! YAY ! 🥰🤑
Let the consumer decide, via The Market.
Communists won’t like that but who cares what they think.
I sincerely hope that Willie Walsh’s proposal is accepted by the major airlines because I, for one, will never fly again while compulsory muzzle/face nappy wearing is demanded.
They’ll miss you!
Only if he tells them why ‼
Mean while in the States Mask mandate extended for air travel and public transit until at least April 18 2022
Nooooooo
They should just take matters into their own hands, and reject masks and all mandates, and tell passengers that they don’t have to wear them. I cannot see the authorities being able to stop it.
What – just like the British did?
The only face masks that should ever be seen on board an aircraft are those that drop down from the ceiling in an emergency and none of us want to see those.
”…without any Covid-related measures at all.”
Yes – until every single requirement relating to a mild and fast vanishing viral disease is lifted – proof of ‘vaccination’ and pointless ‘testing’ – then we shouldn’t be celebrating.
Of course, it’s not about public health – we know that.
Given that these filtration systems were in place before the Rona hysteria it begs the question why the hell these yellow livered airline bosses gave in to the masks fallacy in the first place?