Do you want to wear a face shield, not just a mask, on long-distance trips right now? Otherwise, Qatar Airways would be higher.
The airline has been circling (no pun), since I took a flight from Sydney to Paris in April. At that time, there is no social estrangement, no mask required.
But as the face mask on flights becomes the norm, the Middle East-based airline is bringing air protection even further. Passengers will have to wear a mask and shield “at all times,” the airline said. It’s “from boarding to disembarkation at the destination.”
Covid-19 doesn’t know elegance. However, passengers of business elegance are exempt from dressing in shields and a mask on board. Unless they do. The multiple face mask is only required for travelers of economy elegance and cabin crew.
Qatar publishes all brochures with protective kits containing disposable screens, a surgical mask and gloves, as a hand sanitizer.
Shields should be in sizes for adults and children. (The latter is inscribed with furry friend Kids Club’s pets to make it more attractive). Children under the age of two are “not recommended” for use.
Shields are distributed at check-in or at the gate, the airline says. When boarding and disembarking, all passengers, adding business class, must wear protective equipment. Those who refuse may not be able to steal.
The airline specifies (now) in the safety data of its online page that there are other regulations for other passengers:
“Facial screens will be distributed at the airport and should be used to board and disembark. Economic elegance is required to bring them on board, unless it is food or drink. Commercial elegance is asked to use them at its discretion.”
For what? Because Qatar says in a press release, “they enjoy more area and privacy.” The masks, on the other hand, must be worn through all passengers at all times, the airline said.
According to Qatar, the only time during 15-hour flights, during which passengers with economical elegance can remove their mask and visor, is for food and drink. “Our team will always be satisfied with the assistance if you need it.” (What to eat, breathe or an already insufferable flight throughout this helmet?)
Despite this, some travelers still do not feel as safe as they deserve to fly with Qatar. You can talk about social estrangement,” NBC News Tehran’s head of the Tehran office, Ali Arouzi, tweeted on a July 10 flight from Tehran.
Many airlines are taking strong action on facials. Will soon others set the example of Qatar and make face-protective, in addition to masking, the rule of law for the fliers?
The refusal to wear a mask in the United States is now accompanied by sanctions. American Airlines has even temporarily banned the flight of an activist passenger. (The carrier also, in May, allegedly opposed flight attendants dressed in shields and stated that they may “present a risk of protection”).
While some passengers are voluntarily equipped with face protectors on domestic flights, this is an excellent choice for long-haul flights. But as travelers fly again, there are those who obviously think that the more security measures the better. Especially when social estrangement passes through the window on board.
Qatar Airways is not alone. Cheap Air India Express provides passengers with a protective kit that includes pre-boarding protection. The parent company, Air India, began doing so a few months ago on some repatriation flights.
As India’s Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri pointed out, it looked like an outside climate scene. Now you can have a vision of the future, if others follow in Qatar’s footsteps.
For Nahid Bhadelia, medical director of the Special Pathogen Unit at Boston University School of Medicine, yes. At least when it comes to protecting ourselves.
“The face screen is wonderful if someone sits next to you and expels you,” he told The Washington Post. Non-medical masks help others breathe drops from inflamed people.
She and other medical experts agree that face protectors, combined with a mask, can provide travelers with a double layer of protection.
For the University of Iowa infectious disease doctor, Eli Perencevich, a face is a “plastic vaccine.”
There’s no guarantee that a shield will work for you on planes, he said. But as he told the Post, they are less difficult to remove and clean up. “… then your mask isn’t contaminated, so it’s safer to touch your face.”
Could this be new in the near future? The CDC doesn’t present them. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration did not “authorize them for general use” on board the aircraft, American Airlines said.
In addition to the hotel quarantine of A$3,000 waiting for me, the possibility of spending 22 hours in the air, looking to get some sleep while locked in a plastic shield, makes an adventure in 2020 unlikely. And deeply unpleasant.
I have 3 decades of pleasure as a journalist, foreign correspondent and writer-photographer. Working for printing, virtual and radio on 4 continents,
I have 3 decades of pleasure as a journalist, foreign correspondent and travel writer and photographer. Working for print, virtual and radio media on 4 continents, I am also an experienced hotel journalist and writer of travel guides and cultural histories in Australia, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland and Borneo. Deep on the road between my Parisian and Australian bases, I write for Forbes with a globetrotter attitude and a topicality in travel, culture, hospitality, art and architecture. My hobby is to capture the unique people, places and occasions I encounter along the way, whether in words and images. I have a bachelor’s degree in professional writing from the University of Canberra, a master’s degree in European journalism from Robert Schuman University in Strasbourg and a member of the Society of American Travel Writers. Love for my wild local island of Tasmania fuels my commitment to sustainable travel and conservation.