Do you have to wear a mask on a plan? The simple answer is yes
Some travellers seem to think they’re immune to the easy, breezy spread of germs.
I’ve recently taken my first flight since early last year. There wasn’t any palaver about the check-in and boarding process, no acts of aggression. So far, so good.
Masks on, hands sanitised, waiting for takeoff. And then, with shifty looks to and fro, a few passengers around me pulled down their masks to chin level. And not to eat or drink but to sigh, cough, blow their nose or indulge in a massive yawn. The masks were no more than a form of window dressing, a gesture of compliance.
Pre-Covid, the biggest bugbear aboard domestic flights was the stowage of cases in overhead lockers. Passengers with luggage the size of coffee tables would board and heave up the bags and take up all the space.
Few staff, whether baggage security or in-flight crew, seemed to police restrictions regarding size and weight. Occasionally, a passenger might be encouraged to hand over an item (a steamer trunk or a set of drums, perhaps) to be checked-in at the last minute. But all this just seems comically selfish compared with transgressions in the pandemic era.
Remember the old-time safety announcement about oxygen masks: “Should the cabin experience sudden pressure loss, stay calm and listen for instructions from the cabin crew. Oxygen masks will drop down from above your seat. Place the mask over your mouth and nose. Pull the strap to tighten. If you are travelling with children, make sure your own mask is on first.”
I doubt there were too many passengers citing their sovereign rights and refusing to take the mask when such critical in-flight safety situations occurred.
Perhaps airlines could consider dropping down Covid-era face masks when everyone is seated and cabin crew could check everyone has complied. This doesn’t seem to happen when it’s left to individuals to decide what they are “comfortable with”.
So, I wrapped a scarf around my face, Taliban style, and eschewed food and drink. An extreme measure, I know, but I am concerned about the easy, breezy spread of germs.
I began wishing someone’s oversized case would suddenly pop out of the overhead locker and dong the snoring bloke just across from me, sans mask, on the head. Not to cause injury but to make him wake up, in more ways than one.