Delta and United lift restrictions on flyers barred over mask violations

Delta and United will allow customers previously barred from flying for failing to wear masks to board flights again, the carriers said on Wednesday evening, after US authorities abruptly stopped enforcing face-covering requirements following a court ruling this week. “With masks now optional, Delta will restore flight privileges for customers on the mask non-compliance no-fly list,” the Atlanta-based carrier said. This would apply to roughly 2,000 banned travellers. United said some customers will be allowed to fly again “on a case-by-case basis” after “ensuring their commitment to follow all crew member instructions on board”. American Airlines CE Robert Isom said on Thursday that banned travellers “will be permitted to resume travel at some point in time” provided that the incident they were involved in had not escalated to a more serious issue such as assault. There have been 1,233 reports of unruly passenger incidents this year, 65% of which were related to face masks, according to the US FAA. Ed Bastian, Delta CE, called for a national no-fly list of unruly passengers as recently as February. Airline CEs had called for the federal government to rescind its mask mandate for public transportation, including air travel, citing the safety of airline staff who had to enforce the rule.<br/>