Passengers suspended by airlines for failing to comply with national mask requirements could soon be flying again. United, Delta and Alaska Airlines told CBS News they will review each case before making a decision.
Delta Airlines said it will restore certain banned passengers’ flight privileges after they showed “an understanding of their expected behavior when flying.” Passengers who have exhibited “outrageous behavior” and were already on the permanent no-fly list will remain banned.
“At Delta, nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and our employees,” the airline said in a statement. “Any further disregard of the guidelines that protect us all will result in Delta being placed on the permanent no-fly list.”
Delta banned about 2,000 passengers while the mask mandate was in effect.
United, which banned around 1,000 customers, said it would remove passengers from the no-fly list on a case-by-case basis. Alaska Airlines told CBS News that over 1,700 passengers have been banned for refusing to wear masks and that it is also reviewing those decisions.
Airline passengers and crew members, some of whom are not wearing face masks following the end of Covid-19 public transport rules, board flights at the airport terminal in Denver, Colorado on April 19, 2022. – Mask requirements for public transportation are no longer in effect following an April 18, 2022 federal judge ruling. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
The airlines’ announcements come after Tampa U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle invalidated the nation’s mask mandate on public transit and the Transportation Security Administration said it would no longer enforce the mandate. At least eight major airlines, including Delta, JetBlue, American, Frontier and Spirit, are no longer requiring passengers to wear masks for the entire duration of their flights.
But on Wednesday, the Justice Department appealed Mizelle’s ruling after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said masking in transportation corridors like planes and trains was “necessary for public health.”
Airlines began requiring passengers to wear face masks in 2020, and the CDC enacted federal public transit regulation in January 2021 after President Biden took office. But the mandate for planes was a source of conflict, and it was left to flight attendants to enforce it. Airlines have reported 1,150 unruly passenger incidents so far this year, 744 of which are related to face masks, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Ed O’Keefe, Melissa Quinn and Kathryn Krupnik contributed coverage.
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