Wow: British Airways Drops Face Mask Requirement

The requirement to wear a face mask while flying is about to be removed by the first major global airline.

British Airways to ditch face coverings on Wednesday

British Airways and London Heathrow Airport will no longer require passengers to wear face masks as of March 16, 2022. Multiple sources have confirmed that the full details will be revealed in the next 24 hours.

The rules will be destination dependent, which is a small caveat.

• Some destinations have transportation mask mandates on the ground, meaning that travelers will need to wear masks when they arrive in or depart from another country
• Some destinations require travelers to wear masks for the entirety of the flight; for example, the current US transportation mask mandate requires this through April 18, 2022, so masks will still be required on flights to & from the United States

Smaller airlines like Jet2 have dropped the requirement to wear a face mask while flying because the UK no longer requires it. British Airways will be the first global airline to do this.

The UK will lift all travel restrictions related to coronaviruses on July 26. Travelers will no longer be required to complete a passenger locator form when traveling to the UK.

It’s time for this to become the norm

The concept of airlines ending face mask requirements is complex.

• In many cases you have government mandates around face masks, so airlines don’t have much of a choice
• People have differing views on how necessary masks are when vaccines are available on a widespread basis; some people would of course welcome face mask requirements being eliminated, while others would be extremely uncomfortable
• Then there’s the general challenge of consistency — some destinations will likely require masks for years to come, so it’s complicated for airlines to require masks on some flights but not others, require them during some phases of flight but not others, etc.

I am happy that British Airways is lifting the requirement to wear masks, as I have been happy to wear masks for the past two years. I might wear masks in some situations since I have barely had a cold in the past two years.

It's time to live with coronaviruses, we have a lot of vaccines and other treatments. As I have vulnerable people in my life, I will continue to take reasonable precautions.

Bars in the United States are open without mask requirements, which is worse than on planes. People who want to wear masks on planes can do so. While masks are about protecting others, wearing a KN95 provides you with a lot of protection.

We hope that the US federal transportation mask mandate extension through April 18 is the last one that we see.

Bottom line

The mask requirement is expected to be lifted by British Airways. Some flights will still require masks, but they won't be a requirement in general. I think this is welcome news over the past two years.

What do you think about British Airways lifting mask requirements?

The tip of the hat is to paddle your own canoe.