Alaska Airlines, a Washington-based airline major, has recently announced that passengers over the age 2 years would be required to compulsorily wear face covering or cloth mask over their mouth and nose as a safeguard against the contagious COVID-19 disease.
Reportedly, passenger that do not adhere with this rule of wearing a mask for any given reason at the airport will not be allowed to onboard the flight. Additionally, if a passenger refuses to use a mask after boarding would be restricted from any future travel.
According to the company’s statement, after the imposition of Alaska’s mask enforcement policy, majority of passengers have decided to respect the practice, while several have raised concerns to implement it in those flights that don’t mandate this rule.
Earlier this year, Alaska had decided to take a soccer-style warning approach instead of the strict enforcement of the mask policy. In this approach, the airline’s flight attendants started issuing stubborn passengers a “yellow card,” with a warning that they would be restricted from future flights if they received a second yellow card in the next flights.
Speaking on the development, Max Tidwell, Vice President of Safety and Security, Alaska Airlines, said that the company’s tougher policy establishes how important this condition is to the community and the airline itself. If passengers doesn’t wear a mask, then they won’t be flying with the airline.
The airline has also extended its rule of blocking middle seats for solo passengers to maintain a level of physical distancing in flights. Additionally, it has removed the in-flight entertainment tablets as a Covid-19 safety precaution from all its flights. Alaska airlines come as the first airline to get rid of its entertainment devices to mitigate the spread of coronavirus.
Apart from minimizing the contagion, removal of tablets would also free up some storage space in the galley and cut costs. However, companies like American Airlines are still continuing to offer Samsung tablets to premium cabin passengers on select flights.
Source Credit: https://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/alaska-airlines-will-enforce-face-coverings-no-mask-no-travel-no-exceptions/