Mask Mandate and Backing Up Flight Attendants
February 25, 2022 — The federal transportation mask mandate is in place through March 18, 2022.
Some AFA members have said they want it extended and others have said they don’t. Either way, as long as it’s in place Flight Attendants are charged with managing it on the plane. We continue to advise the public of the role of Flight Attendants so they are not focusing frustrations on the crew, in response to any of our safety instructions. That is our focus. Backing up Flight Attendants simply doing our job.
This week there has been misinformation and inaccurate reporting, which has since been corrected. On Thursday, February 17, our union received questions from a handful of reporters asking if we heard whether the mask mandate would be extended. We responded that we were hearing it may be extended in the near term based on certain conditions specific to aviation.
- The airplane is a unique, but controlled environment for everyone’s safety.
- Our youngest passengers do not yet have access to the vaccine.
- Safety procedures are typically harmonized around the world.
- Passenger confidence in the safety of air travel is critical.
None of this was news. Only one of those reporters used our response, but misrepresented what we had said. The story claimed we had taken a position on extending the mask policy. We had not. A week later this incorrect report traveled throughout media outlets, blogs, and social media. We worked hard to get it corrected.
Our focus remains on ensuring that Flight Attendants receive support for doing our job and that violent passengers are kept off of our aircraft.
