At Least 3 US Airlines Will Restore Flight Privileges To Some Mask Violators

At least three major U.S. airlines – Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines – have now said they will allow some passengers who were banned from their planes over mask violations to have their flight privileges restored – determined on a case-by-case basis.

On Wednesday, Delta released a statement saying, “At Delta, nothing is more important than the safety and security of our customers and our people. With masks now optional, Delta will restore flight privileges for customers on the mask non-compliance no-fly list only after each case is reviewed and each customer demonstrates an understanding of their expected behavior when flying with us.”

“Any further disregard for the policies that keep us all safe will result in placement on Delta’s permanent no-fly list. Customers who demonstrated egregious behavior and are already on the permanent no-fly list remain barred from flying with Delta,” the statement added.

United Airlines similarly announced it will allow passengers it banned for not following mask rules to be allowed to fly again.

“On a case-by-case basis, we will allow some customers who were previously banned for failing to comply with mask-related rules to fly United again — after ensuring their commitment to follow all crewmember instructions on board,” United Airlines said in a statement.

American Airlines will also allow passengers banned for violating mask rules “to resume travel at some point in time,” according to the company’s chief government affairs officer, Nate Gatten.

“In cases where an incident may have started with face mask noncompliance and escalated into anything involving something more serious, or certainly an assault on one of our key members or customers, those passengers are going to remain on our permanent internal refuse list and will never be allowed to travel with us again,” Gatten said.