Speaking during a fourth quarter earnings call last Thursday, outgoing American Airlines CEO Doug Parker linked the incidence of masks to the stagnation of business travel. Parker sees business travel returning when masks are no longer compulsory. But is he right?
American Airlines CEO Blames Masks For Slow Return Of Business Travel
Parker argued:
We need business travel to get back to where it was. It wants to…every time it starts to look like the world’s going to get back to normal, business travel starts ticking up and it starts ticking up pretty quickly – as it did in July, as it started to do in November.
What happens though is anything that gets people to where we all have to wear a mask again, and for companies that have not yet brought people back to work, they delay that. It’s been delayed yet again for a lot of companies around the United States. It’ll come back, and when it does business return, and [we’ll be profitable].
While he states that masks are an impediment to return of business travel, he really links masks to normalcy itself, implying that “anything” (such as new variants or reactive public policy) that leads to masking impedes business travel.
It was just last month that Parker had to walk back comments before Congress suggesting that the federal mask mandate was not necessary due to superior air filtration systems on airplanes.
But is Parker even correct? Like View From The Wing, I’m not interested in debating masks here…we’ve certainly done that enough and I realize that people come to very different conclusions about them.
I’m actually not sure, though, that Parker is correct. I think those who dislike or downplay the need for masks are already traveling again while those who are afraid of COVID-19 and thus more likely to embrace masks may not be traveling yet or do not plan to travel at all. Thus, the lifting of the mask mandate will not change the behavior of so many people.
Perhaps I’m a bit too pessimistic, but while nothing substitutes for the in-person experience, I don’t expect a sudden surge in business travel. Certainly, rolling back the mask mandate will represent improved COVID-19 conditions in the USA and that will encourage more offices to re-open and some business travel to resume. But many companies I work with at Award Expert 1.) have already resumed travel but are 2.) limiting it much further than prior to the pandemic for 3.) financial reasons more than health reasons.
In my case, I’ll wear masks (surgical or N95) in places where I am asked (including not only airplanes, but most indoor settings in California and annoyingly even in my gym) but look forward to the day when they are no longer required. In any case, it will not change my travel patterns.
CONCLUSION
I think Parker is correct to the degree in which the ongoing federal mask mandate represents a continuing pandemic. However, I’m not convinced that masks (or even new variants) as time goes on are going to make or break business travel. Rather, it will be how companies and individuals seek to allocate resources in a post-pandemic world with all sorts of new barriers to travel when telephone, email, and video conferencing never replaces in-person meetings but at least approximates it.
I guess some of the issue is which airline removes the mask requirement first. SAS no longer require them for intra-Scandinavia travel but IME of several recent flights is everyone is still wearing them.
Who will take the plunge? It will need to be compatible with legislation at both origin and destination of course which complicates matters.
I have been saying this for ages, yet every time I do people violently disagree and berate me like I’m some kind of death cult worshipping kook.
I work for a major international corporation that (pre-covid) spends millions of dollars on travel. We have a corporate travel office with over 30 people, and I am good friends with the VP that runs the place. The mask mandate is the single biggest impediment to resuming any real return to normal travel operations and everyone that is involved with corporate travel knows it. This has an immense impact – less air travel means less hotel occupancy (at business hotels), less demand for business dining (e.g. lunches), etc.
It’s worth remembering the rationale behind the original mandate: the airlines wanted the backing of the government in the face of angry customers. “It’s the law” has more weight than “it’s our policy”. The fall extension was also advocated by airline management, but this time for a completely different reason: they didn’t trust each other. In a vaccinated world, there would be tremendous pressure to drop the masks, this time by vaccinated frequent flyers as opposed to belligerent malcontents. The airlines knew that, without a federal mandate, someone would drop their mask requirement. Whoever did it would instantly have a huge advantage (and could raise fares at will), causing a race to drop mask policies across the board. This would certainly cause labor problems with the FAs, and would almost certainly lead to strike actions. The airlines now find themselves in purgatory – publicly supporting a mandate they themselves asked for, yet privately agreeing that it is costing them dearly.
I’m not sure how this ends.
@ Steve: Is it the mask mandate, or all the other requirements that stop people from traveling in that cooperation?
I think it’s the health concerns that are the issue- saying it’s the masks is like saying people are scared to fly because of the seat belt requirements on planes not the crashing planes (not a perfect analogy but you see what I am saying). I’d also note the issue of who takes on the liability of people getting sick while traveling and not being able to work when they get home (if within the US) or not being allowed to go home (if international) is a huge issue (and why my major employer isn’t allowing it). Those are are huge risks for companies who need their employees working and getting things done to make the business work. I think things will get back to normal when covid is less risky (in the eyes of the corporate leadership), more people are vaccinated to make it less likely if you get sick you have symptoms and/or are contagious longer and our hospitals stop being overwhelmed with people dying from it.
I’d note that I’ve flown business class internationally (pleasure not work) and worn a KN-95 mask to sleep in and work on the plane and it was no big deal. It actually helped me feel less dehydrated from dry plane air.
This is the most accurate reasoning why business travel hasn’t come back. I’m anxious to travel again for work, but it’s all of these reasons – not the mask requirement – that are collectively the problem.
Like Lara, I’ve also travelled in business for leisure instead of work and while wearing a mask during an 8+ hour flight wasn’t the highlight, it certainly wasn’t the worst part of it.
Jay,
If I didn’t know someone that manages this for a living, I would personally tend to agree with you. What I find telling is that when we do book travel, it is suddenly in “maskless” locales.
Case in point: We have very sizable offices in San Francisco and Chicago. I mean sizable: SF has four floors and over 20 large conference rooms. There’s also a fantastic tech room and all the amenities you’d expect. It’s a beautiful. We also have a tiny office in Miami. We lease 1.5 floors out of dumpy, dated building near the airport with absolutely nothing near by in the way of restaurants and a parking lot that they found a dead hooker in last year. There are 3 conference rooms, no amenities, and was slated for closure in 2019. Nearly every single meeting that we do schedule travel for is now held in this office. When we actually do meet in person, we bring clients, partners and vendors to this eyesore instead of our flagship offices in SF, Chi, or NYC.
I’ll give you three guesses why, but the funny thing is just how unspoken it is. Absolutely nobody will say it out loud, but when you’re having a drink and talking offline, it gets mentioned in hushed tones. THIS is why I disagree with you that the masks play a bigger role than people think (or admit).
Max – There are two factors. The largest is what I’d classify as perception. It goes like this:
“Masks = Danger. Danger = Caution. Caution = We Shouldn’t Be Traveling” This is responsible for about 65% of our own travel deferments.
The other factor is “the hassle”: “Travel is uncomfortable right now because of all the restrictions, rules, and precautions. We’ll wait until things improve to meet”. This is mostly the view of higher tanking executives.
According to my friend who runs the travel department, there have been almost no objections to travel for personal health/safety concerns in the past 10 months, although there were quite a few earlier in the pandemic. We’ve had three anonymous travel surveys since the pandemic started. Health/Safety was the primary objection in the first survey (overwhelmingly). It was second to last in the most recent survey earlier this month.
This is what people don’t (or won’t) realize – it’s not about the masks per se, it’s about the what they represent (although for those that fly overseas, I’m they have been exceptionally adamant about minimizing travel until masks come off). I have no doubt that there will be some people that choose to mask in some or all situations forever, and that’s their right. The problem is the MANDATE and what it represents that really hurts business travel, and this is just not going to change.
The mask mandate is keeping the travel department from approving travel, or it’s keeping employees from requesting travel? That’s a big difference.
Hi Other Steve –
Since June of last year, we are technically allowed to travel “for any reason” right now (it was essential only from Feb 2020 until then). Managers are reluctant to schedule travel due to the perception of risk, and staff are reluctant to ask for travel due to the hassle. Regardless of the reason, corporate travel continuously hears from staff around the country that the mask mandate is the barometer for judging when normal travel should resume.
Sorry to say this but the mask issue is only an issue to the white/caucasians. The biggest offenders of people who don’t like to or obey to wear masks are the white folks. I don’t know whether this is a culture/freedom/selfishness thing. You don’t see the mask issue in Asia as they willingly obey to wear masks not only to protect themselves BUT they are also CONSIDERATE of others. I’ve traveled to Asia and even during PRE-pandemic times especially in winter, people wear masks all the time. You don’t see them complain do you?
This is another great point. I travelled to Taiwan pre-pandemic and was amazed at how many people wore masks. It was most noticeable on public transport like the subway, but the bird-flu hit them hard and they just adopted it afterwards. To your point, it’s become much more of a cultural issue with Western countries, specifically in the US.
Absolutely correct. Masks make travel miserable, and assure that I’ll only travel when I absolutely need (or really want) to. For business travel, that means I almost never make the trip, as almost everybody is willing to meet by Zoom these days.
Another equally important thing preventing a return to travel are certain testing requirements. I don’t mind Rapid Testing too much, which I can do at home in 20 minutes, but PCR requirements are onerous and expensive. I’m considering a trip this week to a place that requires PCR “taken 72 hours prior to flight.” The flight leaves late at night, so effectively this is a 48 hour requirement, which means the only way I can do this is to spend $175 . . . which is about 30% of the roundtrip airfare. I probably won’t bother.
Even worse are testing on arrival requirements. I know a guy who tested negative before leaving the US, only to arrive in BKK to test positive. Despite the fact that he had no symptoms, he was driven to an uncomfortable hospital room to spend his first 10 days in the country – bizarrely taking up a bed while not at all sick. There is no place in the world I’m willing to go where I’ll gamble away my freedom on the randomness of a PCR test result.
My people gained our Million Miler Status back in the USAir days.
We were on first-name basis with most of the excellent employees in almost all the domestic/European Admiral’s Club’s.
FYI-We were there in Las Vegas when Parker showed up to close down the one in McCarren. He Looked all of in the eye and promised we’d have a newer/better location “very soon”. We’re still waiting!!
Back to the mask mandate situation. We quit flying back in July of 2020. And, have only flown 3-4 times since then.
Many of my colleagues have adapted to “working from home”, quite easily/happily.
Right now, most of have found we’re now more productive and our biz expenses are half of what they were pre-pandemic.
There really never was a reason for the mandates/lockdowns!!
No, masks are a red herring. Our business travel is determined by how safe we feel at he receiving country and on the journey, if Covid is contained we go, if it’s not we don’t. Getting sick in a foreign country is no fun, and a liability for companies. With regards flights, having everyone tested before boarding reduces risks in the cabin. The abandonment of preboarding testing by some countries has given us pause about traveling to those countries, and so less flying.
Masks are awful, and don’t do *anything* – that data is crystal clear on that.
But, we don’t use Science in the USA, it’s all ‘health theater’
—
Masks though, are a symbol. And of course, what business wants to have their employees travel in masks?
It’s de-humanizing.
All, for nothing.
The sooner all restrictions are dropped, the better.
We’re 2 years too late on this disaster. Our government and awful health agents ruined our economy.
They ruined our kids lives.
For nothing.
All restrictions should be dropped NOW.
Then all of us can get back to normal.
It’s so interesting how we can all look at the same data and interpret it completely different. All the studies I’ve read have been crystal clear that real masks (N95, KN95 and surgical) do a good job blocking the spread of viruses.
In regard to Parker, the problem isn’t masks. The problem is there are plenty of people of people who don’t want the risk of catching covid on a plane. Removing mask mandates will only make that problem worse.
The problem IS masks.
Masks aren’t necessary… wait, AA’s flight attendants say they are as they demand (and get) service cuts to avoid contact with unmasked pax eating/drinking. AA exec mgmt agrees?! Huh? What day of the week is today? A Harvard study in great leadership… not.
AA just keeps making different excuses for their inability to sustain a successful business without government help.
It’s not the mask that makes me not want to travel. That is a mere annoyance. It is testing to get on the plane, risk of quarantine in a bad overpriced hotel, things shut down or having to show your COVID pass everywhere. So I’ve been traveling a lot domestically. But who knows when international travel will be decent or reasonably predictable enough to make plans again.
Hmmm. Let’s put it that way: if you truly need to travel for business, i.e. because you are an engineer needing to travel to a plant that requires fixing or you need to argue in court, and the only way to go is by plane, you won’t care too much about wearing a mask. What mask mandates could stop is travel by leisure travellers, or business travellers who could conduct their business remotely.
Those of us who said cloth masks were pure theater and we fought with are now proven right. Even the CDC now admits we were correct so there is no logical reason to continue the charade. The upcoming March deadline will be interesting with only 2 options. End it or require N95’s, which sadly I see happening with the giveaway starting at drugstores.
Thinking the CEO’s will come out in force against it and may have the current crashing of their stocks as ammunition. Dems seeing their approval numbers crashing and midterms coming up hopefully see the average American wants the mandates to go away.
“ I think those who dislike or downplay the need for masks are already traveling again while those who are afraid of COVID-19 and thus more likely to embrace masks may not be traveling yet or do not plan to travel at all.”
Even the small-to-midsize manufacturing customers that I typically visit have restricted outside visitors. It is not based on personal feelings regarding the pandemic it feels more like 1) protecting workforce from getting infected and thus having lots of machine downtime 2) having policies in line with other big manufacturers or government entities with which they do business. I do believe it’s a bit of a “first mover” problem, or a status quo bias, and once mask mandates are dropped everyone else will follow.
@Dave Edwards – I disagree that there are only two options (N95 or nothing).
The fact remains that the mandate (as of right now) is really about labor peace and nothing else. It is not about peace of mind for travelers ( they are free to wear N95s themselves if they want), and it certainly is not about infection control (cloth masks are useless and it’s not a secret).
This is about airlines like AA with militant FA unions that demand masks to justify increased pay, lessoned workloads, and other concessions being able to compete with airlines that would drop the mask requirement the day they were legally allowed to. Whatever the masks efficacy is, the FEDERAL MANDATE is effective in keeping the playing field level, so that one airline (such as UA) can’t drop masks and capture the lucrative business class/fare travel while another airline like AA keeps masks and winds up with a significant loss of revenue, potentially causing risks to their overall solvency if it lasted long enough.
I think that he is speaking “C Suite” BS. He has to have an excuse, and the excuse can’t possibly be him. If he thought anyone would believe it was something else, he would have said it. Its’ hard to say as the CEO, i f’d up. Masks are an inconvenience, and yes, even a bit irritating. But if you have to be at a sales presentation in CLE on Thursday, you are going to go, mask or no…..
If you are not traveling for work due to need to wear a mask on the flight you really should consider apologizing to your colleagues and resigning. You are a failed employee in that role and should consider another line of work. I do not believe business travel is over but until level of employees returning to offices either increases or at last reaches some normalized pattern, the incentive to travel is greatly reduced.
Could a state like Texas or Florida pass a LAW (not an executive order, but an actual law) banning the mask mandate in their state?
Texas considered passing a law banning TSA pat downs and requiring jail time for anyone conducting them. TSA threw a tantrum and threatened to close the airports in Texas, but their federal REGULATION would not have trumped a state law.
Wouldn’t CONGRESS have to override a state if a state did something like this?
Derek:
THERE NEVER WAS ANY LAW PASSED AT ANY LEVEL MANDATING THE WEARING OF MASKS!! Look it up!! See if you can find one on Any Federal/State levels.
ERGO: Without the backing of ANY Law, ALL Mask Mandates are illegal!!
I know there is no federal LAW requiring masks
There is, however, a federal REGULATION.
I was wondering if any state would pass a law and override the federal regulation
Actually its neither law nor regulation (at least not a Regulation within the meaning of the Administrative Procedure Act which requires reasoned on the record decision making or notice in the Federal Register and opportunity to be heard with due process) but an Executive Order of dubious legality signed by Joe Biden in the first days of his Presidency. The only people with standing too judicially challenge this Executive Order would be airlines – who can’t or won’t challenge it for political or business reasons) and people facing punishment under the Order. The later is why there have been so few actual enforcements or prosecutions under the masking Order . . . the first judicial challenge and its probably toast for failure to follow the APA much less a grant of authority from Congress — just as recently happened with the vaccine mandate.
If I see anyone without a mask, I know immediately that they are a TRUMPER and I avoid them. I tell my kids that THAT person is the worst type on earth. I wear my mask proudly so that the world knows that I have the correct politics.
@Billy Bob, I feel sorry for your kids being exposed to your intolerance and hatred of millions along with your I am right, you are wrong mentality.
My kids? They are instructed to wear masks EVERYWHERE. It’s only the Far-Right fascists who don’t wear masks with other people around. I’ve told them. And yes masking alone in cars is an absolute must. First, the new variant is airborne and can attack at any time. You could die! Second, I don’t want other drivers to think I am a Far-Right Nazi. The Canadian prime minister equated them to racists too. I am not a racist and so I wear my mask everywhere. My kids too.
Dude…that seems like a bit of an over reaction.
There are people driving alone in cars or walking down empty sidewalks with masks on. Both are places where there is zero chance of catching covid.
People that rant and rave about wearing their mask all the time are usually the ones that wear it in both of those places, then walk into a restaurant, sit down, take off their mask and proceed to spend an hour talking and laughing in an enclosed space surrounded by strangers. The EXACT place you should be wearing a mask.
Yes I have seen that nonsense in restaurants – I won’t go to restaurants unless they force patrons to stay masked between bites, like on planes. The blithe removal of masks happens in airports and on planes too, however, where everyone is wearing at least one mask (I wear two in airports and on planes) but as soon as the food comes off come the masks and then the virus attacks.
I can only think that maybe the Government conducted a study showing that airflows in restaurants are weaker (because no one is walking around) and that the virus doesn’t stray too far from one who is Infected. Plus the planes are supposed to have good filters. We can’t know what the government knows, as long as they keep us safe.
If it were me, I would ban restaurants in airports! How are we supposed to stay safe (what masks do) when everyone is allowed to take them off simply for going to a restaurant. No food on planes either – just too dangerous in the New Normal. !
And here in Florida we look at anyone wearing as mask as someone to be avoided. They are either sick or an anti vaxxer, so we make it clear we disapprove of them being out in public and jump away from them.
It works just as well as the silly rules liberal cities have put in place.
Needing to wear a mask on a plane (and more importantly, in an airport) hasn’t prevented me from traveling, or for that matter, enjoying traveling. Since November, 2020, I’ve been to Belize, Minnesota, New York, Arizona, and Disney World; in the next few months I will be heading to Seattle, Paris, London, Poland, the Philippines, and back to Disney, New York, and Arizona…for both business and pleasure. For me, wearing masks and being tested are inconveniences; calling them hardships minimizes true hardship. I am grateful and lucky that I get to experience the world.
The whining never stops. If a business trip is important enough to incur the cost and time to travel, is AA’s CEO really saying that serious business people will not go because they have to wear a mask? Seriously?
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Two comments:
If the filteration systems are so good on airplanes then why can we smoke or at least vape? The dangers of second hand smoke should be just as effectively mitigated as covid is on airplanes if he’s right about filtration.
Also, as a business traveler, I don’t mind wearing a mask so that comment is ridiculous. The issue with business travel is the liability that a company would face if one of their employees catches covid because they had to fly to Texas for a customer meeting. As well as the fact that companies are seeing HUGE benefits from cutting travel costs, just like with cutting office costs, with no real loss of productivity or growth.
Masks requirement is definitely a huge barrier for travel to come back to normality. I know several people that have postponed travel because they see masks as a huge inconvenience. Both, professionals and retired people. As for professionals, I know some C-level people that have started to fly private so they can have a normal travel instead of having to go through the hassle of wearing a mask on commercial flights. Others, postponed non critical travel until they can do it in a more convenient way. As for leisure, I have tons of family and friends that just said they won’t leave their houses to go to an airport if they need to wear a mask. They are fully vaccinated and just feel that keeping this stupid mask mandate does not make sense. Do they want to travel? Yes, they do. Do they need to travel while there is a need to wear a mask? No, they don’t. As many here mentioned, Europe is way ahead of the US in terms of handling Covid so until we leave the basement we won’t make any progress. Not travel related but just look at y local city. We now need to show proof of vaccination to enter a restaurant, eateries, sports venue, etc… Not a negative Covid test, but proof of vaccination. Well, every person I know that has Covid now has been vaccinated so talk about following science and common sense.
I think he understates the importance of leisure travel. There are a lot of people who don’t travel because of draconian Covid restrictions. One of them is the mask rule. Wearing one while shopping for an hour is ok. Wearing one for extended periods on a plane plus 2 hours at the airport before the flight (and maybe an hour in the cab/Uber each way) is problematic. I would wear a mask on a plane for whatever the period (I wouldn’t wear an n95 or kn95 like I do at home). However, elderly people in my travel party can’t. It’s not just the mask rule but how it’s applied. Taking it off to eat and drink water is reasonable and shouldn’t get you kicked off the plane but it does by zealot flight attendants.
Business travel may impact domestic first but most people in business class internationally are tourists or visiting family. Business travel is only the majority on certain routes like to China from SF for the tech companies.
Couldn’t agree more. My parents and in laws are both in their mid 70’s and have retired in good conditions to allow them to travel internationally 4 to 5 time a year for leisure in either first or business class. They do not have any airline or hotel loyalty and pay for all their first or business class trips out of their pockets. Here is an an example of 4 people I know that used to spend a lot of money in airfares every year that simply decided it is not worth doing again until the stupid masks mandate is dropped. They fit into that category I mentioned on my post above of wanting but not needing to travel. They are all triple vaccinated and see traveling with masks at their ages for so many hours as an inconvenience they don’t need to go trough. Plain and simple they won’t spend their money with the airlines until this draconian mandate is gone.
They need to get over that because the news is: The mask mandate on airplanes will NEVER be lifted — not in their lifetimes, nor in yours. Everyone MUST wear a mask on an airplane, forever, period. End of story. Mask up!! Vaxxed or not doesn’t matter: mask up!! I just wish they would stop serving food on flights. It’s impossible for the FAs to enforce masking between bites for everyone so the only solution is no food whatsoever and if you MUST drink something, you have to do it maybe in a special room/area, with a FA who makes sure you don’t breathe while drinking and immediately put your mask back on after your sip. And you only get maybe two sips max, then it’s back to your seat, masked!
Airlines should NEVER remove the mask mandate on planes. The Government’s job is to keep us all safe, and if the mask mandate goes, they are not doing their job.
Brainwashed!!!!
Check your sarcasm meter. It seems to be malfunctioning.
Mark my words: masks on airplanes and in airports will be forever. You will forever see unmasked in airport restaurants and on planes during mealtime and wonder if they’ve trained the virus only to attack those standing, or maybe put something in all food on airplanes and in airports that repels the virus somehow. Maybe the virus is lighter than air and floats up – away from sitting diners. Who knows but for sure masks on airplanes will be FOREVER. This March deadline is just to string the fascists along but in a few weeks they’ll quietly announce that the airport/airplane mask mandate has been extended “indefinitely” – mark my words that is coming.
At worst it will last no longer than the 2024 elections….
Vaccines are highly effective. Anyone double vaxxed should have the freedom to travel without masks and without testing.
Those who love the ongoing mask mandate also love TSA theater and ignore its 95%+ failure rate.
Masks made sense before vaccines were widely available.
Since the pandemic began, I’ve flown from San Salvador to San Juan, San Juan to Detroit, Detroit to Kalispell (round trip), Detroit to Tbilisi (round trip), and Portland to Detroit. Each time I have worn an N-95 mask AND a face shield. Doing so is a little uncomfortable, but it doesn’t deter me from flying–and it’s something I would do anyway during these pandemical times to protect my fellow passengers and the airline crew.
I find it hard to understand how people would forego flying because of the minor inconvenience of wearing a mask. I find it even harder to understand why people would be so blithely unconcerned about passing on the Coronavirus to other people that they refuse to wear them. Such people must have a very low tolerance for minor discomfort, a misunderstanding of the benefits of wearing masks, and/or an extraordinary willingness to endanger the lives and health of other people.
What DOES deter me from flying as much as I used to is not a masking requirement. That’s a minor annoyance. Like others who have commented here, I’m deterred by the pandemic itself. Travel brings you into contact with many more people than usual. It places you in confined quarters with others. We are in the middle of the highest spike we have seen thus far in Covid infections. Hospitals in my home state of Ohio are full and medical personnel are so thinly stretched that the National Guard is here working at hospitals and testing centers. This is not a time to be traveling unless it is absolutely necessary.
The pandemic has revealed that a certain amount of business travel isn’t truly essential. People are meeting virtually at far lower costs and with far more safety. For those reasons alone, I don’t think we will ever return to the pre-pandemic level of business travel. The American Airlines CEO probably knows this but is attempting to put off coming to grips with this new reality for as long as he can.
Well, you defined wearing a N95 mask and a face shield on top of that as a “little uncomfortable”. I would ask anyone here to try sleeping at home wearing a N95 mask and a face shield and let me know if that is simply a minor annoyance. Regarding your fear about the pandemic… of well……….
Well bully for you James! YOU find masks to be not that comfortable, and You are one of those fanatical people radical enough to wear a full face mask. But get this James . . . not everybody feels the same way that you do. A good many – if not most of us – find masks horribly uncomfortable and even inhumane, and find a full face shield to be, erm . . . extremely eccentric. Some of us also have science backgrounds, understand maths and statistics, and can read studies, and know that the upside for this discomfort is minimal at best, and entirely unproven with any reasonable degree of statistical significance. So imagine for a moment that other people have different thoughts, different feelings, different ideas, and that the rest of the world sees things very differently from you such that your justifications for masking rules are extremely presumptuous, self-absorbed, and without objective foundation.
No, it is not the mask that is depressing travel. It was another variant, highly transmissible, that led to travel warnings and worries about another surge. And it was felt world wide. And I would not fly any airline that ignores health and safety of staff and passengers.
I agree, Mary. It’s not the masks. It’s the endless stress of Covid after two years and no sign of a way out. People are losing their minds. I have no answers anymore. Some of it became politics, sure. But mostly we are all at our wits end and at each other’s throats for reasons we can’t even fathom. Because we are tired, frustrated, and confused. As much as many here want to tell you it’s all a hoax, mostly they mean to say that you should just live, because they are just as scared and are looking for a way out and as clueless as the rest.
It’s like being trapped in an elevator for two years with a group of people and, just when we think you’re out, something else happens to trap you further. Of course there is infighting and thoughts/theories of how to escape in these dynamics. I have no more answers as to that. I use to. I’m done. Now I just do my thing, mask up (because it’s not a big deal), get my vaccines, and wait for it to end. It will. If we don’t kill each other in the meantime.
Wearing a two or 3 oz mask has not stopped me and will not stop my from flying. Is it inconvenient- yes at times. You have to live your life, do what is best for your health and others and keep it moving. I think technology is the bigger barrier to the return of business travel because the last two years have shown many businesses (not all depending on the sector) have been able to successfully operate, albeit differently. The days of people regularly jumping on a flight every week for business are probably gone in some capacity forever,
Exactly my thinking. The days of just ‘hopping on a plane’ are gone forever. COVID is FOREVER, and the New Normal must remain. We can’t go back to willy-nilly travel freedom – it’s just too dangerous now. Masks must be FOREVER.
I am looking forward to the day when travel in any form is only done with Government approval. Maybe there can be an app and you can apply through that on your phone. As there will be more dangerous variants of COVID coming, all eating in airports must be banned. No restaurants, no lounges. You are not there to eat; you are there to travel, once you have Government permission.
I also read that a CEO of one of the big pharmaceutical companies recommends that everyone get booster shots yearly. We need COVID passports and for any deplorable TRUMP voter (those racists) who refuses to get boosted annually: well, no travel but even better would be no shopping, no pension, no social security, no nothing, forever. It is these people, either unvaccinated or refusing regular boosters, among us who carry the virus (you can see Rachel Maddow – she informed us all that once you’re vaccinated, the virus reaches a dead end. If she said it it must be true!) that continue to spread the virus. A good penalty for them would be to have three masks stapled on.
I have lots of other ideas about how to proceed in the New Normal, where only Science believers should be allowed to live.
There is some truth in what DP says, but it’s a gross oversimplification. For leisure travel? Yes, I think masks discourage some subset of people from flying. I for one haven’t taken my family on a flight since the mask mandate became a thing. And I have no intention of doing so anytime soon if I can help it, mainly because the notion of forcing my 5-year old to wear a mask for hours is simply absurd. I’m not playing these theater games, nor am I taking a chance I end up on a flight with a militant FA that kicks us off because my son commits the crime of not getting his mask back on quick enough between sips and bites.
But for business travel, I think the larger issue is just the general inconvenience and risk. What business wants to take the liability risk of an employee getting sick or passing on an infection to someone else? If sending an employee out of the country, who wants to take a risk of a positive test on arrival or while trying to leave, potentially leaving the company on the hook for thousands of dollars in expenses? Meanwhile anyone who flies now knowingly takes the risk that getting sick will leave you stuck in quarantine for days – how many have decided not to travel because they can’t afford that risk? While I’m sure masks play a role, I think it’s only part of the puzzle here.
The comments here demonstrate the dilemma that everyone (airlines, government, and business travelers) face with the mandate right now: they want it gone, but are afraid to publicly acknowledge it for fear of political backlash. This is why I said it’s hard to see how this ends. My best guess (and it’s only a guess) is that they simply let the mandate expire in March. There will certainly be calls from some (especially FA unions, but others as well) to extend it again, but since there is certainly not going to be a mandate to upgrade to N95s, it’ll be harder to defend. One thing is for sure, there is no downside from a revenue perspective. There simply aren’t enough people who won’t fly without a mandate to put any kind of dent into the the bottom line, especially if dropping the mandate leads to even a moderate return of business travel.
My view from the very politically tuned world of corporate America is that this wave represents the end of the pandemic emergency, regardless of whatever actually happens with case counts. Barring some decidedly (and monumentally) deadlier variant that totally evades vaccine protection, this is over by spring. People’s patience has worn too thin and there are major elections coming. As I’ve said before – mask mandates = danger, danger = caution, and caution = disruption. The country won’t stand another year of disruption and I think most people in positions of power are aware of this. My money is that the band aid is about to be ripped off, and I think it starts with the travel mask mandate.
COVID must never be allowed to be forgotten. It will be here forever, so some symbol must also be here forever, and because masks are visible symbols, they must fill this role.
We must keep the masks on airplanes and we must encourage everyone to wear a mask (at least one but better would be two, with one being a N95 type) everywhere they go.
This is important because first, the virus will be here forever, circulating and ready to attack, even kids. Second, masks let others know which side you’re on: either you are a far-right racist fascist, or you follow The Science, and don’t second guess our leaders (and by that I don’t mean TRUMP).
How can anyone know who the enemies are if everyone is allowed to go unmasked??? Especially on planes, when you are surrounded by strangers, most of whom look normal, it is important to know who the enemy is and the most effective way is to wear a mask, never removing it for anything, and definitely never allowing it to slip down below the nose. Those people are the deplorables, and everyone should be able to look at them and tell.
To go against the author’s hypothesis – I have read the science and am completely against masks. Anything less than n95 is utterly useless (and those are largely useless in the civilian population, and certainly do not act as source control)
I am also choosing not to travel because of the mask mandates. This is both for personal and business trips, for business, the mandates everywhere make it easy to blame covid for why you cannot travel. For personal, I’m not bringing my toddler age kids for a full da of masking up.
I look forward to mask mandates being removed after Biden’s state of the union address in March. (Prediction)
Nope. I traveled for work last week. I rented a car and drove 8 hours one way instead of getting on a 2.5hr flight because I didn’t want to be miserable in an airport/plane in a mask for hours on end. And EVERYONE I KNOW agrees. Your conclusion is straight up wrong. The number of people legitimately scared of COVID is below 10%, particularly with vaccines and boosters. The fact of the matter is the FAA and airlines have been allowed to make air travel a singularly miserable affair, and the mask mandates are the straw that broke the camel’s back for most people. The seats are too small, they force you to submit to the indignity of x-rays and removing your shoes, you are packed into a can like a sardine for hours on end, and the air stewardesses are now gestapo agents who bend over to check if your mask covers your nose when you’re sleeping.
I am flying 1/4 as often as before because wearing a mask is extremely unpleasant. My nose runs like a fountain the whole time, and I’m uncomfortably trying to suppress sneezes for the whole duration of the trip. It’s impossible to sleep on a transatlantic flight with a mask on and snot pouring down my face like a river.
Before the mask fans jump in and liberal-splain what I just said, I mean that it is LITERALLY THE MASK REQUIREMENT that puts me off, not some symbolic fear that’s triggered by seeing masks. Don’t you dare tell me what I mean. Testing requirements, shifting rules, arbitrary enforcement–those are all awful too. But the requirement to wear a mask for 20 hours straight is the dealbreaker.
I am over my fear of the virus. I’ve been out and about as much as the law allows without a mask or barcode, and I haven’t gotten ill. I’m fed up with living like a prisoner. And the Johns Hopkins study that was released today proved that it was all for nothing. It saved negligible lives, but killed a great many people because of depression, job loss, suicide, decreased physical fitness, delayed medical care and other woes of our self-inflicted pandemic hell.
If you love wearing a mask, be my guest for the rest of your life, but don’t foist your performative security blanket theater on me.