JetBlue Will Require Passengers To Wear Masks

Requiring masks is good.

They should sell discounted additional seats for social distancing. For example, buying a half row of 3. Or buying 2 half rows of 3 (6 seats) provided that the passenger in front and behind do so, too.

I think this is the right thing to do. Good job Jet Blue! Hope everyone else will follow.

This is better than the alternative. Not flying. Especially seeing the disturbing news this morning that Argentina announced it’s banning flights until September 1.

So what if someone needs to drink water or eat during a 5 hour flight?

First we had terror safety kibuki, now it's health kibuki. How about infection via one's eyes or touching? How does one eat or drink on a transcon? How many pax will simply wear some sort of "mask" that is simply a cloth with no real protection at all but just for appearance? No vaccine is coming folks, at least not one that we foolishly think is 100% effective. Will we be required to wear masks forever? Planes are filthy anyway(don't think after a month or two any airline will be as diligent as they might be after a short burst). Herd immunity or luck seem to be our best(least worst) option. This virus is here to stay in some form for the foreseeable future.

Why isn't the FAA mandating this instead of us ending up with different airlines having different policies?

Thank goodness, right move made by JetBlue.

I hope that the industry follows

Naomi Campbell must be smiling right now!!!

@Jim - You are correct, this should be mandated by the FAA

I can (and will) wear a face mask on a plane, but that only protects others if I am a carrier of the novel coronavirus. I cannot force others to wear a mask, thus protecting me from their potential infection. And remember, many people with the virus are asymptomatic. According to a study in Italy, 43% of people with the virus had no symptoms.

So face mask requirements need to be standard across the industry, at least for now. Obviously, you can remove the mask from over your mouth to eat and drink, that's just silly to think enforcement would go that far. But you make everyone safer by minimizing the length of time you're not covered.

I'd feel far more comfortable flying today if I knew the people around me were wearing masks, full flight or not.

It isn't as if there is much for a blogger/FF to review right now,m is there? No real food, beverage, etc. service going on. Many countries you couldn't enter, or would have to quarantine for 2 weeks which defeats the whole point of a vacation.

Pretty much the new normal until they better understand the virus and what to do about it. I do think the current data shows it not as dangerous as we were initially led to believe it was. But that doesn't help the hospitals and areas hit hard or the families that had to deal with it.

Good. I hope the culture of wearing one in public spaces when you have a cold or flu sticks around well after corona is gone.

Funny how the blog post months earlier said that mask is not recommended at all. The reason why Asian countries and Germany have done so well is because ppl actually do wear masks.

It’s too late for the US. Million and counting

@Tiffany/Ben - nice job w/"George" - may want to look at "John" above too. "Hoaxers" - GFY! (and not "good for you")

Logic dictates that if you require a passenger to do something, you provide a means for them to do it. I'm all for requiring masks from the entrance at your departure airport to the exit from your arrival airport. That said, however, the airline should be held accountable for providing compliant masks so as to facilitate their policy being followed.

I'm rather surprised that no one else has touched on this point yet. Compliant masks aren't exactly easy to come by, and represent an additional expense and trip to get before you go to the airport. Honestly, you'd think the airline would have considered that.

As has been noted here before, American is providing masks to passengers. Jet Blue should be sourcing masks and handing them out at check in.

Glad to see JetBlue leading the way in finally implementing something that should've been implemented a long time ago...

If it allows for unrestricted breathing, it allows for unrestricted spread of virus particles in exhaled air. To imagine that breathing out around a damp and potentially virus saturated rag will protect anyone from anything is plain dumb.

I have to second @Neo.

Masks are hard to come by right now. It is ridiculous for Jetblue to require them and not have a supply for passengers who arrive at the airport w/o them. Jetblue should be using corporate staff to procure masks. After all, if Jetblue can't get them, why would anyone believe the average Joe can get them?

I’d proudly wear a branded #iFlyAlaska mask. Good marketing!

@Jim – You are correct, this should be mandated by the FAA

No he's not! Let the airlines and other businesses decided what is best for them. Personally I wouldn't fly an airline that requires me to wear a mask. But that's just me. If you feel differently, then fly one that does require it.

A paper mask, a homemade cloth mask, a scarf, a Buff, etc. is not going to protect anyone from a coronavirus. You'd need an N95 mask, at least, and you'd have to wear it the entire time -- from airport entry to airport exit.

It might make people feel better, but it's not really doing much 🙁

@Eileen Kerrigan: if you truly believe improvised face coverings have no impact on viral shedding, please cite your sources before the Zerg capture you.

I will not be flying Jet Blue because of this policy but respect those that will. My wife wears a mask when she goes out and I usually do not. This is a personal choice. I would be much much more concerned with how Jet Blue is sanitizing they’re aircraft than requiring people to wear masks.

@CMorgan So if all other airlines follow suit, are you just not going to fly simply because you're mad that you can't make the "personal choice" to not wear a mask for a few hours? Personal choice is fine to throw around when it doesn't impact others, but that's not the case with mask wearing. I'm not sure why some people seem to celebrate this selfish point of view, but it sure doesn't help that our VP visits hospitals and refuses to abide by their mask policy because "he gets tested frequently." I guess, in addition to not caring about others, he also doesn't really care if he himself gets infected, but now I'm veering off topic...