Alaska Airlines Allowing Flight Attendants to Enforce Policy

Alaska Airlines is giving flight attendants the ability to potentially suspend a passenger from flying the carrier for a period of time if they refuse to comply with the airline’s mask policy.

Flight attendants will be able to give a final notice to any guest who refuses to wear a mask or face covering onboard its flights. With that warning, which will be in the form of a yellow card that flight attendants hand a guest, Alaska says, “the guest’s travel with us will be reviewed and could be suspended for a period.”

“We’re counting on both our guests and employees to be considerate of one another to wear face coverings and contribute to our constant effort to keep everyone healthy and safe,” Alaska Airlines president Ben Minicucci said in a statement announcing the news.

Alaska will not require masks for anyone under the age of 2, anyone with a medical issue that creates trouble breathing, anyone who cannot remove a mask without assistance, or anyone with a disability that prevents wearing a mask.

Alaska is part of Airlines for America, a coalition of carriers that late last month announced a pledge to strictly enforce passengers wearing masks. Aside from Alaska, the coalition includes American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines.

Airlines for America most recently announced that its members will start to require passengers complete a health declarations before flying that entails assurances that passengers will bring a face mask and wear it at the airport and on the plane, are not currently experiencing any COVID-19 related symptoms, and that they have not had close contact with someone who tested positive or had symptoms of COVID-19 in the last 14 days.