Flight attendant union asks for patience following mask mandate ruling

The nation’s largest flight attendant union urged travelers to remain patient and await further guidance after a federal judge in Florida struck down the federal government’s mask mandate for planes, trains and buses on Monday.

Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), noted the federal government could appeal the ruling and said that it would take airlines and airports a minimum of 24 to 48 hours to implement new masking rules for travelers.  

“We will soon have more legal analysis on what this means and what next steps may be taken in court by the government,” Nelson said in a statement. “We urge focus on clear communication so that flight attendants and other frontline workers are not subject to more violence created by uncertainty and confusion.”

The court ruling, delivered by Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, a Trump appointee, is likely to cause confusion in airports. United Airlines told employees Monday that the mandate remains in effect while the airline awaits further information from the federal government.

Flight attendants and other airport workers have suffered from a surge of violent travelers who refused to comply with the mask mandate over the course of the pandemic. 

The Federal Aviation Administration recorded 1,150 reports of unruly passengers over the last year, a huge spike from previous years, with 744 of those incidents related to masks. An AFA survey released last year found that 85 percent of flight attendants dealt with unruly passengers in the first half of 2021, and 17 percent experienced a violent incident. 

“We urge everyone to practice patience, remain calm, and to continue to follow crewmember instructions,” Nelson said. “And we remind passengers that it is legally required to follow crewmember instructions, and that disruptive behavior has serious consequences as it puts everyone at risk.”

Just last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) extended the mask mandate for 15 days, through May 3, as the agency took time to examine the impact of the omicron subvariant. 

Airlines had been aggressively lobbying the Biden administration to drop the mask mandate, arguing that airplanes are safer than bars and restaurants when it comes to mitigating COVID-19 spread. 

Mizelle wrote in her ruling that the CDC failed to follow the rulemaking processes and provide a sufficient justification for enacting the mandate.