These are the routes where British Airways will still make you wear a face mask

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• Joe says:

  26 Mar26 March 14:00

  Masks should be going on Friday in Switzerland presuming there’s no more extensions.

• Jack says:

  26 Mar26 March 14:07

  It’s really not that big a deal to wear a mask frankly especially onboard a plane . Flew with BA today no announcements about masks but crew and all wore one . Respect choice completely but Covid is still raging in many places pretending it’s gone and acting like masks breach human rights is very stupid indeed

  • J says:

    26 Mar26 March 19:52

    I don’t think anyone is pretending Covid is gone, but anyone believing it now poses the same threat as in April 2020 is… well… see your last three words.

  • Matarredondaaa says:

    26 Mar26 March 22:20

    Agree totally
    At least if we all wear a mask and the stupid person next to me has Covid I know he won’t be breathing all over me with no protection.
    Mask wearing should remain mandatory on all flights.
    I just don’t understand the hysteria around having to wear a mask

  • Guy Incognito says:

    27 Mar27 March 11:56

    It’s not a big deal *for you* clearly.

    For many people, for many different reasons, it is.

    I’d love you to tell a rape victim who was gagged that it’s “no big deal” and that she should be forced to wear one to assuage your paranoia.

    I’m also assuming you didn’t remove it at any time to eat or drink? And that you wore a minimum N95, fit tested? And that you didn’t touch it inadvertently at any time?

• His Holyness says:

  26 Mar26 March 14:42

  Anyone who wants to wear a mask and is annoyed at those who don’t need to respect the basic principles of mask wearing:

  Disinfect your hands using an alcohol based sanitiser
  Take a new FFP2 (ideally FFP3) from a sealed packet
  (Surgical masks are a waste of time, especially if you’re the kind of person who is worried about Coronavirus)
  Wear the mask the entire flight, do not take it off until you’re in a safe place such as your hotel room or outside
  Do not partake in food and drink whatsoever, you compromise the mask, isn’t that so obvious?
  Dispose of the old mask
  Repeat when you need to wear the mask again

  This is science

  Those who follow this should have no fears when when they are around those who choose to be unmasked

  Those who want people to wear a mask but are happy to enjoy F&B are simply flat earthers

  • David says:

    26 Mar26 March 15:30

    You don’t understand science, only what you’ve been brainwashed by from right wing freedom nuts and borderline Qanon nonsense. Jog on mate.

    • His Holyness says:

      26 Mar26 March 15:53

      Sorry? I’m expressing the most obvious ways of using a mask? This is science. It’s right wing crap to say they don’t work, I’m saying they work, when used correctly.

      Using a surgical mask that goes in your pocket that you can somehow take on and off at your choosing does NOT protect you from the deadly virus, neither does it protect others.

      Disinfecting your hands using alcohol based sanitiser, using an FFP2/3 (the only mask accepted in much of Europe) are you saying Italian, German, French, Austrian scientists are all wrong? The same scientists who mandated outside use vs indoor only in the UK?

      And the most obvious point, not taking them off while you eat or drink. Especially on a plane!

      Keep then on the entire time.

      Imagine there is a chemical agent in the air, would you take it off while you’re eating or drinking-with the delivery unit (in this case the mouth or nose) next to you?

      If you trust the mask, why is using an FFP2/3 on the entire time not enough?

      • Edwin says:

        27 Mar27 March 11:57

        You are being extreme, claiming that “if don’t score 100 then please score 0” is obviously wrong. Scientific evidence gives you the right direction to pursue, you should do your best to achieve it, and achieving part of it is still better than doing nothing.

    • NorthernLass says:

      26 Mar26 March 16:36

      That well-known right-wing freedom nut Piers Corbyn might not agree with you.

    • Edwin says:

      27 Mar27 March 11:51

      Well said! Those who enjoy being brainwashed by the media and politicians please don’t claim that you know anything about science.

    • Guy Incognito says:

      27 Mar27 March 12:02

      Are you looking in the mirror while typing that?

      Everything His Holyness lists there is spot on. Unless you’re doing all of that you have no right to pontificate on what others do.

      I’ve travelled extensively throughout, and never worn a mask as I’m exempt. Watching the safety theatre of the bien-pensant taking off their masks to eat / drink then dutifully putting them back on again is tragic. And deep down I suspect most of them know that, but it’s easier to comply…

  • Tim says:

    26 Mar26 March 22:33

    Surgical masks are not a waste of time. Plenty of air leaks around them but they electrostically attract aerosols as which are what causes direct person to person transmission. They reduce aerosols by about 80% which makes you less dangerous to others if you have COVID

    • Edwin says:

      27 Mar27 March 12:07

      this website should have a like button

  • PhilS says:

    27 Mar27 March 07:06

    The science is that masks reduce the risk of transmission not prevent it.

    • Guy Incognito says:

      27 Mar27 March 11:58

      Explain Scotland’s case rates compared to England’s then.

• Mike says:

  26 Mar26 March 16:36

  I hate to tell you this but wearing a mask on a flight isn’t useful.

  The CDC published figures for the time to transmit an infectious dose of COVID between two people (figures for delta so will be lower for Omicron). I suspect the formatting will be ruined but hopefully you’ll get the point.

  Uninfected is wearing
  Infected Nothing Cloth Surgical N95
  Nothing 15m. 20m. 30m. 2.5hr
  Cloth 20m. 27m. 40m. 3.3hr
  Surgical. 30m. 40m. 1hr. 5hr
  N95. 2.5hr. 3.3hr. 5hr. 25hr

  As you can see, with Delta, 2 people, one infected and one not, you’ve got 15 mins without masks to get infected so basically the time people are on a flight eating and drinking. Even with both wearing cloth masks, no-one eating or drinking you get 27 minutes before someone would be infected. Basically any flight between the UK and Europe needs all eating and drinking banned and everyone wearing N95 or better (everyone in surgical only gives 1 hour so not good enough)…. And these were for the less infectious delta strain, Omicron will be even worse. Can you see now why masks on planes, as currently and previously enforced, is pointless?

  Mask wearing or its lack of is not involved in the delay of your operation, NHS incompetence is.

  • NorthernLass says:

    26 Mar26 March 16:43

    This is absolutely how I feel about it. Show me ANY evidence that the way masks are worn on planes stops anyone getting covid and I’ll back down. If people want to wear them for psychological comfort, that’s fine as well, but perhaps they should be prepared not to eat or drink for the entire duration of the flight as well.

    • Tim says:

      26 Mar26 March 22:53

      Noone has done a proper placibo controlled double blinded trial of parachutes and yet we know they are fairly effective at saving people because we can prove that they reduce the speed at which you hit the ground and we know that hitting the ground fast is dangerous. It’s similar with masks. We know they reduce the number of aerosol particles produced and we know that aerosol particles are what cause infection. So there is not the study you are seeking but that doesn’t mean that thinking masks are somewhat useful on planes -to an unknown degree -is an unreasonable position to hold until better studies are done.

      • Guy Incognito says:

        27 Mar27 March 12:17

        Then explain Scotland’s case rate to England’s.

        There is ample empirical evidence to suggest the opposite, and that masks actually increase cases (likely due to the way they are worn, handled, touched, re-used, discarded etc, though also the nebulising effect as well).

  • Ben says:

    26 Mar26 March 17:22

    I looked it up that cdc study was spring 2021 so that would be alpha wouldn’t it ? Which was significantly less infectious then omicron.

    So let’s say omicron Is only 4 times as infectious. Everyone wearing surgical masks would only protect you for 15 minutes.

    So you would have already been exposed before the seat belt light turns off

    • Tim says:

      26 Mar26 March 23:04

      Depends who you mean by “you”. You are probably right that a surgical mask offers protection for a very short time (15 mins is a good a guess as any) to someone close by. But on a plane there are people close by and people further away. Imagine you had a leaking bottle of chlorine gas in your seat which is 1A Tieing a cloth over the leak only halves the amount of toxic gas escaping. Everyone in first and business is dead regardless of whether you tie the cloth round the leak or not. But by halving the rate at which the gas leaks folk in row 20 and backwards may not get a toxic dose because the gas takes a while to travel that far back and every row in drifts over is equipped with Aircon which removes some of the chlorine.

    • Mike says:

      29 Mar29 March 17:34

      Those CDC numbers were for Delta according to the infographic.

  • Tim says:

    26 Mar26 March 22:46

    That is a good study but fails to take into account distance between people or number of people infected. The study shows that an infected mask wearer is likely to infect a masked seat neighbour over a typical flight time unless they wear an N95. Cloth and surgical masks are unlikely to prevent THAT transmission event but it is over interpretation to say that they will not reduce the likelihood of OTHER transmission events for example to people seated further away where even a cloth mask removed for eating will catch some aerosols and therefore reduce aerosol concentration around an infected person somewhat. Halving aerosol concentration is unlikely to be enough to protect a person near to you but may be enough to protect someone 5 rows behind you. The weakness in all these studies is we don’t yet know how many virus particles you need to inhale to become infected but this will be a number greater than one meaning that even slight reductions in aerosols released can be expected to result in the number of other people recieving a dose over whatever the threshold is being lower.

    • Edwin says:

      27 Mar27 March 12:06

      Respect your efforts to disseminate knowledge, but those who believe wearing masks is useless only enjoy gaining “knowledge” from the media they trust and living in their information cocoons.

      • Mike says:

        29 Mar29 March 17:37

        I don’t know if you are referring to my post but wearing masks is useless if people take them off to eat and/or wear crappy cloth masks. GOOD masks, worn PROPERLY and CONSTANTLY do work, however that isn’t what’s happening.

• David Keen says:

  26 Mar26 March 19:33

  BA cabin crew are unaccountably rigid and unpleasant about enforcing mask-wearing, stowing cushions, and disembarkation by row. They apply no courtesy and behave in an officious manner similar to the Military Police. Having just flown 2 returns within 2 months from MAN via LHR to YVR in Club World, I will go back to a European carrier in future for long haul. BA’s customer care is not worth the money.

• Aaron C says:

  26 Mar26 March 20:28

  So TUI and Jet2 don’t require them on some routes that BA do?

• Damien L says:

  26 Mar26 March 22:21

  I really think it’s an unfair header to say “whim of Cabin Crew”
  As a manager onboard – since the announcement debacle which is agreed by all, the crew were issued in advance a set of routes to which masks had to be enforced (There are very FEW routes that are mask optional)
  Due to the PR disaster we as crew receive the backlash and also the job of enforcement.
  I’m not saying that ground and air crew managed to get the list published publicly but we certainly were and still not happy with the lack of info given to customers as it’s make a frustrating experience for all.
  Dubai 2 days ago I had to issue in excess of 50 masks to people that seemingly didn’t have one

  Currently it’s an ever changing policy that we are tasked to implement onboard . Will Scottish flights go massless? will Biden remove mandate?. For each destination we have to check.

  I get that some flight managers/crew can be somewhat heavier handed than perhaps me, but mask compliance (regardless of the debate around them) has plummeted and we struggle with this type of conversation umpteen times a flight and really do not have a say in if/which flights are mask mandated

  • KK says:

    1 Apr1 April 01:51

    just evict those passengers. deboard them and cancel then ticket and or BAEC membership.

• Paul says:

  26 Mar26 March 23:31

  Covid is causing mass absence of teachers and students. It’s not the life threatening illness it was but it’s still rather nasty for some.

  As for BA, flew down from Glasgow today and it was a dogs dinner. Masks are mandatory still in Scotland and the crew tried to explain the BA policy.

  They said we’d disembark by zone but on arrival at gate said everyone could disembark and it was back to the chaos of pre covid. The crew complicated matters further by tell us all masks were not required in the terminal, unless we wanted to!!

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