Biden Signs Executive Order Requiring Masks for Travelers
Masks have been a somewhat controversial issue on flights with several viral incidents. Here’s a brawl between passengers on a Spirit Airlines flight that had just landed in Puerto Rico in October of 2020.
President Biden has now signed an executive order , requiring passengers to wear face coverings during interstate travel. That covers not only air travel, but also trains, buses and ferries.
Airlines and their employees have been seeking such a federal mask mandate almost since the pandemic began. They were the ones who has to enforce the rules when passengers refuses to wear masks.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has received more than 150 safety complaints over passengers violating airline mask requirements, NPR reports. Airlines have banned thousands of passengers from flying with them again for refusing to wear masks. Delta just announced that will get tougher on unruly passengers, threating them with permanent bans.
“When the government establishes a requirement or a law, people listen,” says Taylor Garland, spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants. “People will respond to the law, more so than a specific airline policy or a flight attendant asking.”
Federal penalties include fines up to $35,000 and possible jail time for passengers who assault, threaten, intimidate or interfere with airline crew members, according to the FAA. In December, the FAA also proposed fines of $15,000 and $7,500 for two passengers “for allegedly interfering with and assaulting flight attendants who instructed them to wear face coverings.”
Lower Spend - Chase Ink Business Preferred® 100K!
Chase Ink Business Preferred® is a powerful card that earns 3X Ultimate Rewards points in a broad range of business categories on the first $150K in spend per year. Right now earn 100K Chase Ultimate Rewards points after Learn more about this card and its features!
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
“Airlines and their employees have been seeking such a federal mask mandate almost since the pandemic began. They were the ones who has to enforce the rules when passengers refuses to wear masks.”
So just so I understand what you are saying, now that there is a government law the flight attendants won’t have to enforce the rule anymore. If a person takes off their mask mid flight, the flight attendants will just call up Joe Biden, he will scramble up a couple of fighter jets, they will chase after the airplane, rappel in midair to the commercial flight, arrest the person not wearing the mask, rappel them back to the fighter jet, and wisk them off to jail. And again, the flight attendants now won’t have to deal with it.
The reality is, this is another worthless law that will change nothing. The flight attendants are still going to have to deal with the offenders not wearing a mask on a flight the same way as before.
Sometimes is needed not more than a day to make the difference.
Dean, if we’d had laws in place from the very beginning, we would not only have saved, at minimum, tens of thousands of lives.
Look at the examples of the countless other countries that have had much better outcomes, and were able reopen safely for months. Their economies are in better shape. Their people are safer.
Yes masks and lockdowns have done wonders
You mean to tell me if we had a mask mandate from the beginning all these people who refuse to wear a mask would have meekly bowed down and put on a mask? The people who refuse to wear a mask are not going to wear one, whether there is a government mandate or not.
Dean – If people would have consistently worn masks startling last April, a good 100k or more people would still be alive and Biden wouldn’t have had to do any of this. He’s trying to fix criminal stupidity. Can you understand that?
Lol,goodbye america
Sorry I don’t understand how you’re going to fix biden’s criminal stupidity and those who follow him they may all need to actually be hospitalized for stupidity
He also has just killed overseas travel, many lives and livelihoods will suffer in Mexico and poor countries that rely on tourism, to require a test before returning to the U.S. is one thing, but a test and 7 day required quarantine upon return???? , congratulations Joe, you not only cut 60,000 plus jobs by killing the keystone pipeline you just shattered many peoples lives and we are only in day 2 of your miserable presidency.
Exactly! Told people to be careful what you wish for! Not even antifa likes Joe.
You seem like the type of people that were opposed to screening of passengers that began after 911 – indicating it would be the death of travel. It didnt end travel then and the new restrictions in relation to COVID will not end travel now. The gloom and doom predictions are nonsense. The restrictions due to Covid (particularly the mandated masks) will make traveling safer. In response, I think MORE people will travel.
Very lame. Biden is not even requiring surgical masks, like Lufthansa. Any bandana will do. Maybe Biden forgot?
Hope it goes well…