Don't Forget That Facemask, Airlines Are Getting More Strict

I'll also be focusing on how we're reopening America. Despite what your local rules around face masks are, you'll want to make sure you have one if you're gonna be flying. Air travel is starting to pick up and most airlines require that you wear a mask, but if you want to be difficult, it could land you on an airline no fly list. Scott McCartney, middle seat columnist at The Wall Street Journal, joins us for flying in the pandemic. Thanks for joining a Scott, gonna be with you, Oscar. So,

air travel has been rebounding. It's not at the levels that it was last year, but just from a few weeks ago, we're seeing like more people starting to fly, so we're seeing an uptick and one of the interesting things, obviously we're still living in this time of coronavirus, trying to keep things clean and whatnot. But this kind of whole argument about whether to wear a mask or not to wear a mask that's playing out around the country is also playing out with the airlines, and there's some

interesting things happening surrounding this. Some airlines, if you're not wearing them, they could put you on it do not fly list. Even Scott tell us a little bit about this. Well, this has been a real problem for airlines. There are no federal regulations on it, and airlines are only governed by federal regulations, so whatever particular state does or city does or whatever doesn't apply to airlines, so they're kind

of on their own. Most all of them in the US, with the exception of Allegiance, have required a mask, but many of them, Delta, United American and others were simply enforcing it at the gate on the ground and not in the air and a lot of people were getting on the airplane and taking them off. And as you mentioned,

there's a great debate. Some people think they don't need to wear them, and some people think that's offensive because when you wear a mask, you're not really protecting yourself, you're protecting everybody around you in case you happen to be infected. So this week, airlines have gone to a

tougher approach, at least at American United Delta. It's an approach that actually Jet Blue and Hawaiian have been doing already, and that is, if you're not going to comply, their flight attendants aren't going to pick a fight with you in the air, but when you get on the ground, they're gonna quiz you about why you didn't comply, And the airline has the option of putting you on a restricted list. Now that's up to each airline. It's not clear how long you might be restricted on the airlines

no fly list. I think it really depends on how big a jerk you are about it. But it's a threat that I think will resonate with a lot of travelers and force more compliance. Um So the fight attendants can say, hey, if you're not gonna put your mask on, we're gonna turn in your seat number. They're gonna put you on the no fly list, and I think that will force more compliance in the cabin. Those are some strict measures right there, But if you need to get somewhere.

If you get someone you want to go back home and you had your round trip with the same airline, that should be enough to scare a lot of people into just backing down and doing it. But it's an important thing. You know, there's recent surveys that have been done that say that airport cleanliness is at the top of the list right now. It's up there with the prices of the actual flights. I think Southwest did their own surveying and it said the top three concerns for

their passengers are clean surfaces, clean air, and masks. So it's a really important thing. Yeah, it is. And the survey you mentioned, uh, really quite remarkable of the travelers, and the survey said cleanliness was huge factor in a buying decision, really in a travel or don't travel decision, and that was at the same rate as ticket price. The folks who did the survey had never before seen another factor that scored as high as ticket price. So

this is really important to travelers. You know. You mentioned the rebound and travel, and yes, over the last two weeks or so, there's been about a fifty jump in the number of people actually traveling. But it's off a very small base. The total number of people traveling is still down about from where it was, so to get all those people back, there's going to have to be

confidence that it's safe to travel. And you know, I think the inconsistency that we've seen with with airlines and airports just the general notion of is it going to be safe or not, and there's not a lot of confidence in that, and a lot of people aren't going to get back on airplanes until they get that confidence. And this is the early part, though, This is the part where the confusion happens and real policies are set in place so that when the real uptick does happen,

everything is kind of already set. And obviously it does seem like this mask wearing is going to be something that's going to be enforced a lot more stricter across the board. And we have to remember, too, what happens on the planes where your most susceptible to get sick.

And there's this thing known as the hot zone, and these are the area of the two rows behind you and in front of you, and someone's not wearing a mask and they sneeze, and that's going to go up in the air and that's how transmission of this thing could happen. So it's really important on that. And I know that the airlines are also experimenting with not filling the middle seat or kind of offsetting the rows behind them, things like that. On an airplane. On a basic single

aisle airplane, the tube is about twelve ft wide. It's really hard to get six ft apart. And as you mentioned, the folks in the road behind you, um, a row is not a yard wide, there inches away from you. And so there has been a lot of medical research on transmission of viruses and other diseases on airplanes, and the key thing is the two rows in front, two

rows behind. I think even with this, you know, even somebody walking down the aisle who happens to coffer sneeze, if you're sitting in the aisle seat, that's a risk of exposure. So there's really good ventilation and filtering of the air on the air plane, and it does move air from the ceiling to the floor, not sort of cross wise. And those filters on an airplane can filter

out coronavirus, or at least substantially filter out coronavirus. So there are a lot of reasons that you can have some comfort that you're going to be safe, but the real risk is being in close quarters with people. That's just by definition what's going to happen on an airplane and getting exposed to whatever they're coughing, sneezing, talking. And that's why masks are so important. And you mentioned it in your article and I've seen all over the place.

Make sure to open that air events a full blast to keep that air moving and just be prepared to have those masks because you don't want to end up on it do not fly list just because of that, so just make sure to bring him. Scott McCartney, writer of the Middle Seat column for The Wall Street Journal, thank you very much for joining us. Sure always going to be with you. Oscar. I'm Oscar Ramirez and this

is reopening America. Don't forget today's big news stories. You can check me out on the Daily Dive podcast every Monday at the Friday so follow us on I Heart Radio or wherever you get your podcast