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BA, Virgin and Heathrow to drop mask mandate on Wednesday, all UK restrictions end Friday

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British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Heathrow Airport have announced an end to compulsory mask wearing from Wednesday, following the Government’s announcement that all UK travel restrictions will end on Friday.

Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Transport, tweeted yesterday afternoon that:

“All remaining Covid travel measures, including the Passenger Locator Form and tests for all arrivals, will be stood down for travel to the UK from 4am on 18 March. These changes are possible due to our vaccine rollout and mean greater freedom in time for Easter.”

All UK travel restrictions to end on Friday, including Passenger Locator Forms

The key winners here are unvaccinated travellers, who will no longer need to take any tests on returning to the UK. This was an inevitable consequence of removing the Passenger Locator Form.

British Airways to end mask wearing from Wednesday

British Airways has announced an end to mask wearing on its aircraft where allowed by law. This will begin on Wednesday.

Cabin crew will continue to wear masks, and passengers will need to continue to wear them where required, such as when flying to – but not from – the United States and to some European countries.

BA said:

“As an international airline we fly to a large number of countries around the world, all of which have their own local restrictions and legal requirements. We’re working through these and from Wednesday March 16, customers will only be required to wear a face covering on board our flights if the destination they’re travelling to requires it. For destinations where the wearing of a face covering is not mandated, our customers are able to make a personal choice, and we kindly request everyone respects each other’s preferences.”

Heathrow will end mask wearing on Wednesday

Heathrow has also announced an end to mask wearing in the terminal, which will also kick in from Wednesday.

Gatwick has not yet made any announcement.

Virgin Atlantic will reportedly end mask wearing on Wednesday

Heathrow Airport has stated in its press release that Virgin Atlantic has also agreed to drop masks from Wednesday. The airline has not confirmed this.

I am seeing Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss on Tuesday morning so we will see what he has to say.

Reaction to the end of UK travel restrictions

In response to Grant Shapps’s announcement, Virgin Atlantic said in a statement:

“The removal of all remaining UK travel restrictions, including the Passenger Locator Form, is the final important step towards frictionless air travel, helping to further restore consumer confidence as we welcome more customers back to the skies this Spring and Summer. With these barriers to travel removed, Britain is open for business and passengers can reconnect with loved ones and business colleagues once again. To uphold the experience of all travellers, it’s vital that the UK Government works closely with industry to ensure the UK border is ready for increasing passengers, as international travel ramps up.”

Airlines UK, the trade body for UK aviation, said:

“Today’s announcement sends a clear message to the world – the UK travel sector is back. With travellers returning to the UK no longer burdened by unnecessary forms and testing requirements, we can now look forward to the return to pre-Covid normality throughout the travel experience.

“We’re grateful for the timing of the announcement as we prepare to welcome back passengers this Easter and Summer, for which we know there is huge pent-up demand, and for the UK’s leadership in being the first major aviation market to remove all remaining restrictions. The time to return to the skies – to enjoy all that makes aviation and international travel great, for families and businesses – is now.”

Whilst many countries have removed maks mandates on the ground, British Airways is the first major international airline to announce that masks need not be worn if not required by local law. It remains to be seen if this will be a popular or unpopular move when it comes to selling tickets.

Category

General

Comments (252)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • WaynedP says:
    15 Mar15 March 05:53

    Can’t believe no one has yet commented on the real travesty in BA’s statement …

    You don’t kindly request people to respect others, you request that people kindly respect others 🙄

  • Genghis says:
    15 Mar15 March 05:56

    “ Gatwick has not yet made any announcement.”

    Going though on Sunday it was “recommended” to wear a mask. I’d say about a third were.

  • David119 says:
    15 Mar15 March 06:26

    Yet another reason not to use BA and not to visit Britain. COVID has not ceased to be a deadly disease and I don’t want to be forced to sit next to an umasked, unvaccinated passenger suffering from COVID. I would love to return to my home country of Britain but this ensures that I won’t. One person’s “freedom” equals another person’s serious illness, long COVID or even death.

    • PhilS says:
      15 Mar15 March 07:30

      Does the change in BA mask policy constitute a major change?I

      Mike your comment is not appreciated. Speak for yourself not others.

    • J says:
      15 Mar15 March 09:21

      For anyone under 60 your odds now of dying WITH Covid (positive test within 28 days) in any given month is 1 in 100,000s. For OF Covid it’s 1 in millions. It has ceased to be a deadly disease in any real sense.

    • Dave says:
      15 Mar15 March 09:34

      Hilarious! You do realise the unvaccinated is the group statistically least likely to have covid, right?

  • Aaron C says:
    15 Mar15 March 07:19

    Funny that just the other day people on here were saying how BA flyers are more cautious than TUI and that BA would be maintaining the requirement for some time. I guess 2 days is “some time”.

  • Reno says:
    15 Mar15 March 07:26

    This whole “pandemic is over” narrative feels like it has all the markings of a gigantic backlash waiting to happen, to anyone who’s been following the science.

    Cases never really went down since last July’s first “freedom day”, and every other week now seems to bring a new study about long term organ damage.

    The FT was reporting last week that 1 in 4 UK employers are already seeing Long Covid as one of the top 3 causes of long term absenteeism, with 1 million people affected, including 230K so disabled they dropped out of the job market entirely.
    Most people here (myself included) won’t be old enough to remember “long polio” but it does seem that this is exactly where we’re headed. The lawsuits in coming decades will be interesting…

    In the US, Covid is also now the 3rd cause of death in children 0-4yo (who can’t yet be vaccinated), right after homicides.

    Needless to say, as a new parent this announcement by BA is the final f*** you : I’m likely out of this game now, will be cancelling my BAPP and converting my 300K Avios to Nectar.

    • Brian P says:
      15 Mar15 March 08:04

      My wife, kids both had covid last week. All 3 asymptomatic and we only found out because we’re part of the ons survey.

      Cases never will go down, it’s an endemic disease in circulation for at long as the human race exists. Our immunity only increases as the cases continue.

      I’m not against mask wearing, they’ve done it Asia for years, but if you’re doing it now you will be doing it for the rest of your life. I don’t really want to do that.

    • Spurs drive me mad says:
      15 Mar15 March 08:22

      Reno I love people like you “ I’m never flying BA again” brigade just means more availability for those of us who aren’t so dramatic. I’m guessing there will be no chicken pox parties for your child.

      • Mikeact says:
        15 Mar15 March 10:01

        Excellent news from @reno…another one to add to my list of calling it a day with BA.. it’s getting quite long. Rob, please delete him from now on.

    • NorthernLass says:
      15 Mar15 March 08:56

      Are you staying away from supermarkets, restaurants, theatres and all the other places which don’t mandate masks any more? What’s so special about a BA plane? Do you really think loosely fitting masks which are being removed regularly for eating and drinking (and weren’t even being strictly enforced) protect you in any way?! If someone could show me that this type of mask wearing prevented infection I’d wear one indefinitely, but the evidence is decidedly lacking.

  • Doug M says:
    15 Mar15 March 07:28

    I love the way ‘woke’ is thrown around to justify nonsense aimed at what is perceived as someone else’s nonsense.

  • Mr B says:
    15 Mar15 March 07:47

    I’m I right in saying that if the destination still mandates maskes eg USA then they still have to be worn on-board to and from?

    • Rhys says:
      15 Mar15 March 07:50

      To, not from

      • jjoohhnn says:
        15 Mar15 March 10:15

        I can’t see how the US have any jurisdiction once you are outside of their airspace…

        • Sarah Silcox says:
          15 Mar15 March 13:00

          I agree. Experience flying to and from the US 3 or 4 times in the last couple of months is that BA crew were fairly relaxed about masks, TBH – at least in F and J and in particular inbound back to Blighty.

  • James says:
    15 Mar15 March 07:56

    If you’re seeing Shai Weiss can you please do us all a favour and ask why their reward availability is so appalling now? There are thousands of loyal customers unable to use points. Most routes have almost zero UC redemption seats. Yet you keep pushing their credit card and discounted points offers to further top up balances that are difficult to spend. Can you please get their official word on what’s going on, to reassure loyal customers?

    • JDB says:
      15 Mar15 March 08:36

      I don’t think anyone needs to meet Mr Weiss to have that question answered.

      • James says:
        15 Mar15 March 14:29

        Well, it would be nice to hear from the airline, wouldn’t it? Or why bother pushing their miles, credit cards and vouchers which are so hard to redeem and will push loyalty away?

        • Rob says:
          15 Mar15 March 15:32

          So. I had a chat with Shai. He IMPLIED that VS is about to move to the BA model of guaranteed availability. Let’s see.

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