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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Passengers not wearing masks on a flight, should I make a complaint?

88 replies

RopeyRuby · 20/01/2022 21:33

Flew on a long haul flight last week with a major UK airline. As far as I was aware masks are mandatory on a flight.

Two men got ion the plane and sat two rows in front of us with their masks around their neck. The flight attendant asked them to put them on but they said they were exempt Hmm which beggars the question of why they had them at all? Shortly after takeoff another man took his mask off and spent the rest of the flight standing chatting to a passenger across from us with no mask on for the rest of the flight. I was not aware of him being asked to put it back on. Meanwhile we’re struggling with keeping our masks on for 7 hours!

On the flight back yesterday, my mask slipped down my nose so it wasn’t covered when I was trying to find space for my cabin bag as the lockers were all full. I got the attention of a flight attendant to ask him where I could put my stuff but he said very patronisingly ‘put your mask on properly then I’ll answer your question’. He then walked straight past a passenger with his mask around his neck and didn’t say anything to him. There was a different flight attendant with his mask only over his mouth not his nose the whole flight!

I’ve just read about a woman being removed from a flight for refusing to wear a mask.

WIBU to make a complaint about this to the airline?

OP posts:
Penguinno · 20/01/2022 21:45

If passengers are exempt they are exempt.

I don't understand the whole "struggling to sit on my arse for several hours with a mask on" argument when you are allowed to take it off to eat and drink, and you aren't exempt it appears (unless that's a huge drip feed).

We've done six long haul returns recently and staff were brilliant but they cannot force people to wear a mask if they exempt, and to kick someone off a flight they have to land it somewhere - no easy feat when it's not an emergency.

If you chose to wear a mask which you found uncomfortable then you should have rectified this before flying.

InFiveMins · 20/01/2022 21:48

Yes YABU to make a complaint.

They said they were exempt. Whether you believe that or not is irrelevant.

eldora · 20/01/2022 21:56

YANBU, the staff seem to be picking on easy targets (women) but letting men get away with it.

Definitely complain.

CovidCorvid · 20/01/2022 22:01

I think to be honest if you go on public transport you have to be comfortable with the fact that some people,won’t be wearing masks whatever the reason.

I don’t think you can complain about one member of staff telling you to put your mask on if that’s what you wanted them to do to others. 🤷‍♀️ Though they do sound like they may have been a bit rude/abrupt.

Plus when masks aren’t going to be mandatory from next week it doesn’t seem worth your time complaining.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 20/01/2022 22:05

I thought many airlines said those claiming exemptions had to contact them beforehand with proof?

That said I don't know what they're supposed to do once in the air; they can hardly chuck refusers out of the door, though I suppose they could refuse boarding on the return leg

TBH it's not something that worries me, but I just wondered how they're working it

fmpc · 20/01/2022 22:06

The thing that really gets me about reading posts about all these 'Exempt' people, is that over the last few months, I've been travelling between 4 EU countries and I just don't see this huge number of mask wearing exemptions in any of them

The only place/nationality that I hear/read about regular exemptions from mask wearers is here on mumsnet or on UK news

What is it about UK nationals that make them more prone to mask exemptions than other countries?

Or are EU countries just full of Super Mask Wearers who are actually capable of wearing them?

Asking for a friend

Bringmeadog · 20/01/2022 22:07

You’re breathing all the recycled air for hours….. masks will make zero difference. It’s just for appearances.

IggyIggyIggy · 20/01/2022 22:08

@Bringmeadog

You’re breathing all the recycled air for hours….. masks will make zero difference. It’s just for appearances.
Yuppp
TicTacHoh · 20/01/2022 22:10

YABU to complain, what can they do once the flight has landed?

Masks are about to become voluntary as of next week, and the recycled air on a plane means they are a complete waste of time.

GiveMeNovocain · 20/01/2022 22:21

This reply has been deleted

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underneaththeash · 20/01/2022 22:33

@fmpc

The thing that really gets me about reading posts about all these 'Exempt' people, is that over the last few months, I've been travelling between 4 EU countries and I just don't see this huge number of mask wearing exemptions in any of them

The only place/nationality that I hear/read about regular exemptions from mask wearers is here on mumsnet or on UK news

What is it about UK nationals that make them more prone to mask exemptions than other countries?

Or are EU countries just full of Super Mask Wearers who are actually capable of wearing them?

Asking for a friend

I agree,

We shouldn't have had exemptions.

Most airlines don't - you either wear the mask or don't travel.

NB I hate masks, I also hate arrogant idiots who think they are above the law.

MaggieFS · 20/01/2022 22:33

I guess the issue is that you are feeling singled out. But I don't think there's much you can do now. At the time, you should have asked why you were being called out for it when others weren't and depending on the outcome you could complain, but I think it's too late now and you don't really know what was going on.

DoTheMerengue · 20/01/2022 22:35

Honestly? I wouldn’t complain. In fact I couldn’t care less what other people are doing with their masks. Wear ‘em, don’t wear ‘em. It’s nothing to do with me.

notimagain · 20/01/2022 22:37

@Bringmeadog

You’re breathing all the recycled air for hours….. masks will make zero difference. It’s just for appearances.
Just for the sake of accuracy the circulation is such that some of it is recycled (going through HEPA filters in the process), the rest is dumped over the side and is replaced by fresh air drawn in from outside via the engines..
Whatisthepointinthis · 20/01/2022 22:38

I think you should have mentioned it at the time when they asked you to put yours on properly. At that point you could have highlighted that others were not either.

But I can’t see the point in complaining now.

XenoBitch · 20/01/2022 22:39

Surely everyone on the flight would have had PCRs done before boarding anyway.
Can't spread Covid if you don't have it.

Pootle40 · 20/01/2022 22:39

All I have to say about this post is this 🎻

Ickle37 · 20/01/2022 22:42

I am a fully mask wearing advocate. However if mask wearing and washing your hands every 10 minutes worked, it would have worked. It doesn't work tbh. You were in a space where every traveller had tested negative. Dont fly if you want to police people.

GrandTheftWalrus · 20/01/2022 22:45

I can't have anything over my face due to my ex husband, I don't explain that to anyone I just wear my lanyard and never been challenged.

I am going on a plane in September and I'm already dreading it if they ask me to explain as my parents will be there and they don't know the whole extent of my ex abuse.

EileenGC · 20/01/2022 22:45

I'm in an EU country and we do have exceptions. They have to be certified by a doctor, and you carry the certificate with you - on the plane for example - if you're genuinely exempt.

People who cannot wear a mask because of eg abuse, can disclose this to a member of staff or other medical professional who they will never again see in their life. You don't have to tell your main doctor, but you do have to tell somebody shortly why you need the exemption.

As a result, I've seen about 20 unmasked people since April 2020 when they first came into force. Because people are pulled up on it and asked to prove why they're exempt.

'I get very uncomfortable if I wear a mask for long periods of time' isn't a reason not to wear one. I feel very uncomfortable paying €3 every time I get on the train, but that doesn't make me exempt from buying a ticket.

CharlotteGoldenblattYork · 20/01/2022 22:45

I would complain as if sounds as though the attendant was rude and also that men could get away with whatever they wanted and women had to toe the line.

When masks weren't compulsory a few months ago I went into a local small shop behind a large man. Neither of us had masks on. He went to the counter and one of the assistants started serving him and said nothing about no mask. A second assistant came over to me and asked me to put a mask on. I said that I would once they'd asked the man to put one on, too. She didn't ask him so I didn't put one on. Neither of the shop assistants had a mask on, either!

EileenGC · 20/01/2022 22:47

@XenoBitch

Surely everyone on the flight would have had PCRs done before boarding anyway. Can't spread Covid if you don't have it.
I haven't had a pre-flight test since December 2020. I've been, according to my diary, on 23 flights since. A PCR is not a pre-requisite for flying in the majority of cases.
Hearwego · 20/01/2022 22:49

If someone was that concerned about people not wearing masks on a flight, why would they fly in the first place?
What can the cabin crew realistically do? They are probably sick of it themselves and have to wear those masks for most of their shifts, every day.
In a few days time it won’t be mandatory anymore, so I fail to see the point in caring now. Most people are vaccinated on flights anyway aren’t they?

Thirtytimesround · 20/01/2022 23:03

Yanbu. Sounds like the staff are expecting women to comply with the rules but letting men do whatever they want.

If they had facemasks round their necks then they aren’t exempt and were lying to you.

I’d complain yes.

ttcstinks · 20/01/2022 23:03

YABV fucking U

A long haul flight do you really think their masks will stop Covid when they're on a flight for that long?

Stop being silly OP