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

[RopeyRuby]

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 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?

@VelvetChairGirl

to those saying if they were wearing masks they cant be exempt.

my son wears a mask on public transport and in shops, but he is exempt in school and has a lanyard to prove his exemption, its fine in school because they know so no ones going to bother him about it and theres a big difference between sitting on the tube for 10 mins and being in a school for 7 hours.

Same here

My OH has throat cancer
He cant wear a mask for 14 hours on a plane/ through an airport as he doesnt make saliva and he has a rather large lump

He can wear one for short periods such as moving through an airport. He tries very hard to wear a mask for everyday stuff such as popping into the corner shop or seeing the consultant but cant sustain a mask on a flight as it is a very dry atmosphere.

Should he be denied flying?

@XenoBitch

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

It wasn't required when we flew to Malta last October. Not on the outbound flight or the return one.

We did have to complete Passenger Locator Forms and do a day 2 PCR test after returning. Vaccination certificates were also required.

@RopeyRuby

It was a BA flight. I didn’t even think you could claim an ‘exemption’ on a flight. I understood it as wear a mask or don’t fly.

To some extent it is route dependent and there are exemptions in certain circumstances….long story short people can quite legitimately be flying without masks.

www.britishairways.com/en-fr/information/the-ba-experience/welcome-onboard-faqs#mask

“ When you travel with us, you will need to wear a face mask at all times, in the airport and on board, unless you qualify for the government exemption list.”

TBH I think it’s unlikely you’ll get any traction with the airline with regard to the issue other passengers not wearing masks, whether you will get any response to any complaint about the cabin crew member’s behavior you’ll have to wait and see.

There is no government exemption list- so BAs statement is pointless.

@TheHoptimist

There is no government exemption list- so BAs statement is pointless.

Is it the terminology you are concerned about rather than the substance?

Whatever you call it the link BA provide leads to this Government website:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/face-coverings-when-to-wear-one-and-how-to-make-your-own

Quite a lot of detail from the government there beyond details of mask making…including details/examples of situations in which people may not be able to wear face coverings and also the subject of exemptions….

I'm sorry but if they're exempt. Then they're exempt. You don't know what their medical history is like and it's none of your business. If you're uncomfortable with it then just don't fly. You're all sharing the same recycled air anyway.

What was the basis of OP's complaint?

About the 2 guys who didn't wear masks --
About the flight attendant who told her to wear mask --
That flight attendant's tone was rude? --
That the rules shouldn't exist if they aren't enforced perfectly --
That she wasn't a lucky soul on flight 38 that got turned around (I was on that same service 3 weeks ago, I would have felt nuclear towards the mask shunning passenger!!)

I'm voting YABVU since I think OP just wants to complain, about anything will do.

@Bringmeadog

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

It’s filtered. This is why people should understand the basics this long into a pandemic because they might actually get why rules exist

Yes they are dicks not wearing masks and yes I would complain mainly so the AIRLINE makes it more clear rather than the individual employees having to be the only ones enforcing. And they might empower their workers to issue penalties or something

This kind of mask bullshit gives me the rage. We also don’t have exemptions here interestingly. And yes I know a number of people with breathing difficulties etc who still manage to go to the shops in a mask. If they are in hospital and acutely unwell and short of breath a few remove them but that’s a different matter

@Ickle37

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.

No necessarily. My sister, husband and her 3 children recently had a holiday in Turkey. 3 children under 10. They all tested before they came back, drove straight home from the airport without stopping, did a pcr when they got home. Husband and 2 of the children tested positive

@Ickle37

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.

Seems to have worked for me as a frontline worker

@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

This! I live in the Netherlands and only come across one "exempt" person, meanwhile every time I come back to Scotland there seems to be tonnes of exempt people, weirdly enough they all appear to be heavy smokers. My GP brother told me that the exempt thing is a nonsense, the NHS do not support it at all.

@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

So true

Yes they are dicks not wearing masks and yes I would complain mainly so the AIRLINE makes it more clear rather than the individual employees having to be the only ones enforcing. And they might empower their workers to issue penalties or something

Enforce what exactly? At the risk of repeating myself in general terms the UK regs allow people to fly mask less and those that do so do not need to provide any proof of their reason for doing so….

I suspect in the last couple of years more than one cabin crew member at a UK airline has had a conversation with a passenger along the lines of:

“Sir will you please put a mask on”
“No, I have an exemption and I don’t need to show you proof”
“Err…OK”

The only justifiable complaint I can see the OP may have is the manner in which she was handled by the cabin crew member.