Another day, another nasty brawl onboard a commercial airline flight in the United States. What’s that you say? Yes, of course it was about masks. Well, and face shields too.
Masked Man Fights Shielded Man On Crowded Allegiant Flight (For Our Safety)
If we thought the elimination of alcohol in the pandemic era would help us to avoid in-flight rage, who could have guessed the anger and excitement that was soon to come over face coverings.
To Arizona, where our incident occurred onboard an Allegiant Airlines flight out of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. What started as banter between a man who with a mask and a man without a mask soon turned into a big hot mess.
Folks, if you have sensitive ears you are going to want to turn down the sound on this video:
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Rylie Lansford, who captured the video above, told NBC News:
“It was absolutely insane to me because it’s all about a mask. It didn’t need to get that way.”
Yeah, no kidding.
But welcome to year 2020, where our vision is anything but 20:20.
I look at the video and I cannot help but to simply shake my head.
So, a little backstory.
Apparently one passenger boarded wearing a face shield. Per Allegiant guidelines, shields are welcome in addition to masks, but cannot replace masks.
Let’s see if the policy is clear:
“Face shields may be worn in addition to a face covering, but not as an alternative.”
Hmm. So does that mean I can wear a face shield instead of face mask?
So the guy, let’s call him Buster, decided to argue with the flight attendant.
That upset the man sitting in front of Buster. We’ll call him Lester.
Lester was upset that Buster wasn’t practicing social distancing and wearing a mask.
So Lester attacked Buster. And cursed out Buster. And did a smashing good job of keeping his distance.
For good measure, several seemed to join the fight.
Finally, a member of ground staff pulled off Buster from the plane.
And then the plane took off with everyone else still onboard…
CONCLUSION
I can’t make this stuff up. When will it stop?
It will never stop. Masks are here to stay until the end of time — just as you wanted.
I don’t think Matthew has ever implied that is what he wanted. Just pro-common sense.
Correct.
Common sense tells us that masks will be here for the rest of our lives, so thanks for that.
And more common sense:
California governor’s office tells restaurant diners to wear masks ‘in between bites’
https://twitter.com/CAgovernor/status/1312437371460173825?s=20
It’s too bad masks don’t prevent people from typing nonsense on the internet.
The governor of Matthew’s state is saying people need to wear masks between bites of food. And it’s me you’re worried about. Not surprised.
Mandatory masks will go away. (although some people will keep wearing them if they want)
Common sense like when he wore an eye mask as his mask? Lmao
So, what is the rule with face shields? Who says face shields are not enough without a mask? Look at the NFL. Many coaches only wear a face shield and no masks. Costco allows either face shield or masks and many of their own employees only wear face shields. So is it Allegiant’s policy only that doesn’t allow face shield only?
You’re using the NFL as an example for safety? Or Costco? Half the people out shopping aren’t even wearing their masks correctly. I almost wet myself with those examples!
No. I am using them as examples of big companies in the US that have done their own research and approved their policies. I am not saying they are right but just saying there is no correct policy because nobody knows anything about anything. BTW, NFL fined lots of coaches that were not wearing anything while they allow players to socialize on their benches without any protection. Yes, both coaches and players are tested before games but while the double standard. And yes, NFL approved face shields only for their coaches as you can see Andy Reed from the Kansas City on Monday Night Football.
As for Costco, I just gave the example of a major retailer in the US that ordered face coverings for all employees and customers way before States mandated those and yes, they allow their employees to wear face shields only (not talking about their customers). Face shield only is allowed by Costco Corporate for their employees. Maybe you should go to Costco and buy some senior diapers if you wet yourself that easy.
Santastico, it is United’s policy, too, that a mask must be worn with face shields. And vented masks are not allowed.
By themselves, “face shields” are utterly useless. They add a minor extra level of safety TO THE WEARER BUT DO NOTHING TO PREVENT SPREAD OF THE VIRUS TO OTHERS. They can help keep droplets exhaled by others out of the wearer’s eyes – YOUR eyes. They provide YOU with a small extra bit of protection. So if you want to wear a face shield IN ADDITION to wearing a mask covering your nose and mouth, that’s fine, and in fact, on a long flight, it makes some sense.
But the whole point of wearing masks is not to protect YOU, it’s to protect OTHERS from you. That is, masks (not face shields) reduce the amount of virus that YOU are exhaling into the shared atmosphere; masks help stop community spread of the virus. They may have a small benefit to the wearer by protecting you from inhaling the virus, but make no mistake: the mask is not to protect you as an individual. The mask is there to protect the community FROM you.
People who blithely wear only a face shield are revealing either 1) their complete ignorance of basic facts and denial of reality, or 2) they are just selfish pricks who simply don’t give a rats ass about anyone other than themselves. IME, it’s usually both.
It’s not complicated. Morons.
What surprises me about all these mask refusal issues is that there are multiple “touch points” where the purchaser of the airplane ticket clicks a box that says “I understand that I must wear a face mask/covering at all times when I am in an airport, at the ticket counter, while being processed through security, in the boarding area, and while on the aircraft. I also agree to wear a face mask/covering at all times when I am in an airport, at the ticket counter, being processed through security, in the boarding area, and while on the aircraft.” There are acknowledgement messages about face masks/face coverings when purchasing a ticket and prior to check in. All travelers receive messages about face masks/face coverings through individual texts and emails. Airport systems repeat announcements about face masks/face coverings, and posters and signs are seen throughout the airport.
At no time should “you must wear a face mask/covering” be a surprise, and no passenger should ever be permitted to say “I didn’t know” or “I don’t want to.” Every passenger today self-certifies two things: 1) they are aware of the policy; and 2) they will follow it. What a horrible situation non-maskers in airports/on airplanes make for everyone, including fellow passengers and airport/airline employees, especially when they yell and rant and carry on about the horrible/unacceptable/un-American policy.
I get it, you are “anti-mask.” That’s your business. If you don’t want to wear a mask, don’t fly commercially. It’s pretty simple. It’s your right to not believe that face masks/face coverings save lives. It’s not your right however, to impact everyone who follows these policies or is entrusted to enforce these policies by refusing to do so, even after you avowed that you understood and agreed to do so. It’s not a right to travel commercially. If airport personnel or airline personnel say you have to wear a face mask/covering, then just do so. Or figure out a different manner to get where you are trying to fly.
A minipad will do just fine. But not from Costco.
Sorry, that was meant as a reply to Santistico’s reply to my previous post.
That’s me in the blue shirt.
Seriously?
@CBinVA: It’s call cognitive dissonance.
What happened with Lester? Did the airline just let him go? He initiated the fight and should be held for battery and assault, at least. Mask or not, it’s not right to suddenly start hitting the guy…
Welcome to the era of mob justice and selective prosecution.
If I’m Buster, heck yes I’m suing Lester for assault and battery.
I feel somewhat bad about it, but I feel no sympathy for Buster. This is not the case of a small child where I think exceptions need to be made, and the policy is going overboard. Buster refused to wear a mask. Whatever his thoughts are on the subject, it makes other feel safer, and Buster should know (unless he has been under a rock) it is airline policy, but furthermore he was told this before takeoff by the flight attendant. I live in NYC and recently in my building, a few people have been getting onto an enclosed elevator where one can’t social distance with no mask. I think this is selfish and rude to the 95% of us voluntarily following CDC guidelines. I limit myself to a disapproving stare, but I wouldn’t mind if my building would have a Lester who would take care of business.