Originally Posted by mixsonci (Post 1938438)

Does anyone know if you can wear a shield or does it have to be a mask?

Originally Posted by eyc234 (Post 1938614)

:ohdear: Pleeeeeese, is there really a meal on any commercial flight worth getting upset about not being able to eat!!!!!! If you have a medical condition take food with you (Brother is a major diabetic, flies multi flights a week and takes his own food just in case). You probably should not be eating an airline meal anyway.

Originally Posted by Eg_cruz (Post 1938763)

Is there such thing as airline meals anymore??????

Originally Posted by Gulfcoast (Post 1938579)

What?? Did they card the kid? How did they know the child was over 2?

If the flight attendants are expected to enforce idiotic rules, you can't blame them for doing their jobs. Blame the idiots who made the idiotic rules.

Originally Posted by golfing eagles (Post 1938680)

I doubt you read the OP correctly. It was prior to take-off, and he brought his own box of twizzlers. Also it was Southwest Airlines; they haven't blocked the middle seats since early March, the flights are packed like cattle cars.

So the airline had every right to remove him for not complying with their rules. However, I think this in between bites masking policy is pretty stupid. Show me a medical study that shows this has any value. Then, since you are in a sardine can with your mouth 2- 2 1/2 feet from the next mouth, do you have to synchronize your bite with your neighbor so no two masks are down at the same time? Particularly hard if you are in the middle seat and have 2 neighbors to synchronize with. In addition, you spend 1 hour plus in a terminal where you better stay 6 feet away from everyone else, until.....you board a plane (translation: airlines make $$$ off packing a plane, terminals do not). Just wait for the chaos when the airlines require proof of vaccination.

Originally Posted by golfing eagles (Post 1938680)

I doubt you read the OP correctly. It was prior to take-off, and he brought his own box of twizzlers. Also it was Southwest Airlines; they haven't blocked the middle seats since early March, the flights are packed like cattle cars.

So the airline had every right to remove him for not complying with their rules. However, I think this in between bites masking policy is pretty stupid. Show me a medical study that shows this has any value. Then, since you are in a sardine can with your mouth 2- 2 1/2 feet from the next mouth, do you have to synchronize your bite with your neighbor so no two masks are down at the same time? Particularly hard if you are in the middle seat and have 2 neighbors to synchronize with. In addition, you spend 1 hour plus in a terminal where you better stay 6 feet away from everyone else, until.....you board a plane (translation: airlines make $$$ off packing a plane, terminals do not). Just wait for the chaos when the airlines require proof of vaccination.

Originally Posted by Coal Miner (Post 1938689)

I doubt the accuracy of that story. I flew Southwest on Saturday. Masks are mandatory, thank goodness, but no excess enforcement.

Originally Posted by golfing eagles (Post 1938756)

Just who would you push back against?????? The flight attendant that is simply doing what she is told? Federal law requires you to comply with the instructions of the captain and crew, or you can be removed. So your push back would be to not fly, which is exactly what will happen if you fail to comply with the crew's instructions. Lose-lose.

Originally Posted by Medtrans (Post 1938705)

There’s no medical condition that requires Twizzlers.

Originally Posted by Classic55 (Post 1938716)

Been flying Southwest every other week for the last year. Never seen any Southwest action like that. Sounds untrue

Originally Posted by BettyInFL (Post 1938842)

I also read that the reason the 'put it back on between bites' is being enforced, is that people would sit there with a bag of pretzels or nuts in their lap the whole trip to avoid wearing a mask.

Originally Posted by DeanFL (Post 1938339)

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Oh Oh. I'm flying SWA to West coast then Midwest and back home next month.
Mental note - Only drop mask to take a sip, take a bite - then IMMEDIATELY back.
Follow Directives to a T, or....


Man says he was kicked off Southwest flight for failing to put his mask on — between bites of food.

One minute Avi Mandel was minding his own business on a Southwest Airlines plane before takeoff this weekend and eating a box of Twizzlers — and the next minute, he was kicked off the Florida-bound flight.

Mandel told WBZ-TV that he had been a frequent Southwest customer — that is until his Sunday flight from Thurgood Marshall Baltimore Washington International Airport to Fort Lauderdale.

While waiting for the flight to take off, Mandel told the station he got hungry and opened a pack of Twizzlers — and naturally when one eats, a mask makes that kind of awkward. So he removed his mask.

Then a flight attendant told Mandel he had to put his mask on, WBZ said, and he recalled that she "kind of, like, ran away. And I'm like, 'Oh, I guess she didn't know I was eating.' Then I hear on the loudspeaker, 'Everyone who's eating has to wear mask in between bites.'"
Suddenly, the plane returned to the gate, and a security team entered the plane to escort Mandel off, he told the station.
There was no drama. Mandel told WBZ he remained calm and respectful despite feeling embarrassed — but other passengers stuck up for him.

He showed the station video of passenger Stephanie Misiaszek telling the security team, "That is so wrong. He did nothing wrong. Wow."

The team was also told, "He was eating. Oh my God."

After departing the plane, Mandel appeared on a video clip saying, "I, Avi Mandel, just got kicked off a plane because I wasn't wearing my mask in between my bites while I was eating."
Mandel told WBZ he was rebooked on the next flight to Florida Monday morning but won't fly Southwest again any time soon.

"It was absurd," he told the station. "The way I was treated was absolutely absurd. It was crazy, and it wasn't fair."

Mandel added to WBZ that "there was no warning of it, there was no explanation, there was nothing. It was just a matter of, like, 'I don't like you; get off the plane.'"

After he emailed Southwest, the station said he learned that a new federal mask mandate went into effect in February requiring passengers to wear face masks at all times — including "in between bites."

"If I knew this rule ahead of time, I would have happily listened, but I had no clue," Mandel told WBZ.
The Transportation Security Administration told the station that airline passengers can remove masks while eating, drinking, or taking medications — but they must put them on between bites and sips and cannot leave them off for "prolonged periods."

Mandel maintained to WBZ that the rule that got him kicked off the flight wasn't addressed beforehand.

"I think it could be handled a lot better, and I think the rule could have been placed better," he told the station. "I always do follow the rules. I'm on their plane, I get it. But this was not a rule I knew of, and it wasn't explained to me. I didn't see it anywhere at that point, so to me, it wasn't a rule that I was breaking. Had I known, I obviously would have done it differently, but you got to tell someone the rule in order for them to follow it."

A Southwest spokesperson told WBZ in a statement that while the airline regrets "any inconvenience caused, the face covering policy is communicated throughout the booking and check-in process, and it's the responsibility of their crew to enforce federal regulations."

Baltimore County Man Says He Was Kicked Off Southwest Flight For Not Wearing Mask While Eating Twizzlers
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Originally Posted by cj1040 (Post 1938805)

Your body... your choice....if you don't like wearing a mask then you REALLY wont like wearing a ventilator....so unfair and selfish of you to depend on the rest of us who are trying to mitigate this pandemic by getting vaccinated while you refuse to cooperate. So many intelligent talented people have died from this virus including several medical professionals who risked their lives to help others. SHAME ON YOU

Originally Posted by Happinow (Post 1938411)

It’s almost laughable. They can seat you elbow to elbow, but you can’t eat or drink like a human. Feel like you are ruled by Hitler.....

Originally Posted by oneclickplus (Post 1938707)

And that includes the little "hitlers" here that applaud this nonsense.

Put the mask back on between bites ... what a bunch of lemmings / sheep. The airlines can just lose more money - I don't care. Same with the cruise lines. No way they are ever going to make me wear a mask if I'm paying thousands of dollars to be on a cruise ship enjoying myself.

So, we'll find other ways to enjoy God's planet breathing fresh air just as He designed us to do.

Originally Posted by Gulfcoast (Post 1938391)

In all fairness, we have no idea when this man last ate.

Originally Posted by jmpalladino (Post 1938880)

Eat before the flight! They should ban all food on flights period, Virus or no virus, other than what they provide on the plane.

Originally Posted by Girlcopper (Post 1938725)

Exactly. Plus, Im sure there is way more to the story. His rotten attitude is prob what got him removed

Originally Posted by tuccillo (Post 1938752)

There is no pushing back when it comes to airline flights. If you do not follow the instructions of the crew they will have you removed. This is not new. It has been this way for as long as I can remember. For example, try refusing to fasten your seatbelt and see what happens. Your only option is to vote with your feet and not fly.

Originally Posted by Cranford61 (Post 1938902)

He sucked on candy the whole flight in order to avoid wearing a mask. A finger into the eye of aviation policy. Not a SWA issue.

Originally Posted by DeanFL (Post 1938783)

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I'm the OP.

First, I am totally befuddled by some of the previous comments made by some - worthy IMO of an OMG... Some "ASSumptions" are quite bizzare.

Second, I researched this TSA Regulation and pasted pertinent language below. The entire PDF is on a link below. And I checked the SWA site - THEIR policy mirrors the TSA memo. This Directive is for ALL Domestic airlines.

Third, "between bites and sips"? Subjective - to interpretation / timing / monitoring/ viewing etc. I see that the TSA Directive expires 5/11 (would NOT doubt the it will be extended).

DIRECTLY from OFFICIAL TSA Memo:

To: Covered Aircraft Operators
Date: January 31, 2021
MEMORANDUM
Subject: Security Directive 1544-21-02


D. The requirement to wear a mask does not apply under the following circumstances:
1. When necessary to temporarily remove the mask for identity verification purposes.
2. While eating, drinking, or taking oral medications for brief periods. Prolonged periods of mask removal are not permitted for eating or drinking; the mask must be worn between bites and sips.
3. While communicating with a person who is deaf or hard of hearing, when the ability to see the mouth is essential for communication.
4. If wearing oxygen masks is needed because of loss of cabin pressure or other event affecting aircraft ventilation.
5. If unconscious (for reasons other than sleeping), incapacitated, unable to be awakened, or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance, or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance.


https://www.tsa.gov/sites/default/fi...1544-21-02.pdf
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Originally Posted by Tmarkwald (Post 1938903)

Yeah, well, on my Houston to Singapore 18 hour flights, I am not only bringing on food, I am having 4 meals on the aircraft as well.

And my US/Europe flights same thing. Great that we have hot food back on the airlines now.

For US flights, a couple sandwiches.

If I am fortunate enough to be going through Buffalo, I am grabbing a couple dozen nice, hot chicken wings with Ranch Dressing from the Anchor Bar in the terminal.

I don't have time to mess around.

If you have issues with people eating on the aircraft than I would suggest an alternate from of transit.

Originally Posted by graciegirl (Post 1938872)

That is what Mrs. Yates would say, God rest her soul.

Originally Posted by coffeebean (Post 1938812)

Your mask synchronizing scenario gave me a chuckle. I do agree with you that the masking policy of masking in between bites is plain silly. This is why I will not even attempt to eat on an airplane if we do fly while this silly mask policy is in place. I have, however, practiced taking a sip of a drink in between masking. I'm quite good at that.

Originally Posted by JMintzer (Post 1938914)

And I'm sure that everyone researches the TSA website before flying...

All that was needed was a simple request from the flight attendant and the problem would have been solved...

Originally Posted by JMintzer (Post 1938925)

The IOC has announced a new sport for the Summer Olympics...

"Synchronized Masking'! ;)

Originally Posted by golfing eagles (Post 1938916)

Congrats!!!----you're the first person ever to describe being in Buffalo as "fortunate":1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

Originally Posted by lwmilo (Post 1938941)

Possible simple rule...no eating on the plane.....except for meds. Eat prior to boarding the aircraft.