Southwest flight attendants ask Biden to drop face mask mandate

The union for flight attendants at Dallas-based Southwest Airlines is asking the White House and other aviation regulators to drop face mask mandates that have become a hallmark of flying during the COVID-19 pandemic. The TWU Local 556 union that represents that carrier’s 16,000 flight attendants said in a letter to President Joe Biden and other regulators that “Serving onboard during these contentious times and enforcing mask compliance is one of the most difficult jobs we have ever faced as flight attendants. We strongly believe it is now time to give our members and passengers the opportunity to choose if they prefer to wear a mask while flying,” the letter from TWU Local 556′s executive board said. “In the spirit of bringing normalcy back to our front lines as aviation’s first responders, we ask that you consider lifting the federal mask mandate for airline travel and will move expeditiously to restore choice to aviation professionals and the flying public.” The request comes weeks after the TSA said it would extend the face mask mandate from March 18 to April 18 and that the CDC was working on a set of guidelines to determine when masking on airplanes and in airports could be dropped. <br/>