I wonder if these airlines require their employees to be vaccinated and boosted?
I’m going to try and give people the benefit of the doubt and hope that people - some people - even if they’d rather not wear a mask, will.
If people who fully intend to mask and people who are WILLING to mask can at least make a majority that would be a bit encouraging.
Should airlines consider divided seating? Don’t laugh!!! Sounds impossible but even though it’s the same air I’d feel better sitting in a “masked” section away from an “unmasked section”.
It’s gonna get REAL ugly if a masked individual is sitting next to a coughing or runny nosed unmasked passenger.
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I travel by bus on public transportation almost daily. My ride is only 4-5 minutes each way, but often very crowded. If they lift the mandate, I will continue to mask as I take care of my infant grandson daily.
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Most of those who don’t like the mask mandate were traveling by air anyway, so I don’t think lifting the mask mandate will increase traveling among that group. On the other hand, those who feel safer with mask mandate will likely cut back, at least in the short term.
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This actually is not a completely wild idea. Remember smoking or non-smoking? Did not work well with smoke because those particles were smaller and traveled further and there was no HEPA filtration! But can work with Covid.
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The previous smoking/non smoking is what came to mind for me.
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Is walking an option? At least on some days? I used to ride a bus route frequented by not so nice slice of the downtown population for lack of a better description. I decided that walking was much safer and more beneficial exercise-wise.
Yes.
No, it is about a mile walk and would be at 5 a.m. The bus route is safe, and the stop is 100 yards from my place and drops me off across the street from my daughters place.
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I wonder if their flight attendants would feel safer.
BA haven’t required masks within Europe for the last couple of months unless either the country of arrival or departure requires it. Since the U.K. doesn’t require masks I think it’s a safe bet it will be optional tomorrow (I believe it already was for the LHR/VIE leg).
No news yet on the test before flying back to the US, which I suspect is much less vulnerable to a court challenge.
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Per local Seattle news, our local transit agencies are apparently keeping the masks mandatory until further notice (masks no longer will be required on the state ferries - makes sense as most folks just hang outside and keep an eye for orcas).
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Hoping that many public transportation systems- subways, buses, trolleys, trains- keep a mandate.
I am reconsidering travel plans for June, by air. Driving across the country is a tough challenge. Amtrak trains have dropped masks as well.
It isn’t just about my health but about exposing the person I would be visiting.
I don’t understand the resistance to wearing masks for a few hours. I always used to get sick on airplanes- before COVID.
editing to add: Uber is no longer requiring masks of driver or customer…for those who don’t own a car/drive, there seems to be no safe way to get around at this point…hoping N95’s truly work
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I’m at BWI airport. I was pleasantly surprised that all TSA staff and nearly all passengers going thru security were wearing masks. But as soon as we got into terminal and were walking to the gate, completely different. At most, 30% are wearing masks. Actually, I think it’s lower than that now that we are at the gate and I look around. 
Chicago is also continuing to require masks on public transportation.
It’s unclear from the article if they are going to try to enforce mask wearing in the terminals at ORD and MDW but it sounds like they are going to try.
I hope the Florida judge’s decision will be challenged in court. If CDC can only recommend but not impose any mandate during a pandemic to help control the disease, maybe we should rename it the “Centers of Disease Observation and Reporting” as author Michael Lewis claimed it already was in a recent interview.
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Confirmed by WSJ report:
Spokespersons for Air France and Deutsche Lufthansa AG said masks were still required on board all their flights, in line with French and German regulations.
British Airways, owned by International Consolidated Airlines Group SA, and Dutch flag carrier KLM—which operates in a partnership alongside Air France—told customers that the requirement to wear masks onboard was dependent on restrictions in the arrival destination. KLM told passengers that it still “strongly advises all passengers” to wear a face mask on board.
Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. said that masks would be a personal choice for customers effective immediately on all routes between the U.K. and U.S.
Uber has lifted the mask mandate but so far Lyft has not.
International airlines are never subject to the US mandate when their planes aren’t in the US airspace. Cathay Pacific, for example, throughout the pandemic allows its passengers in its first class cabin to remove their masks while sleeping once the plane has left the US airspace.
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San Diego is continuing the mask mandate on public transportation.
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