Posted on 02/15/2021 11:58:40 AM PST by USA Conservative
The arrival of COVID-19 has changed the way we travel. While the number one priority of airlines is the safety of its passengers and crew, COVID-19 presented airlines with a whole new set of safety-related challenges to deal with. From mandatory mask-wearing and blocking middle-seats to reduced in-flight service, new safety measures have become standard in most cases.
However, one airline, Cathay Pacific, created quite a stir when it announced it will be giving its business and first-class passengers the option to remove their masks.
Cathay Pacific is the fifth largest airline measured by sales, and fourteenth largest measured by market capitalization.
Cathay Pacific joined Qatar Airways in a rare category, but Qatar Airways after facing huge backlash now says masks are mandatory for all, despited words to the contrary, and a press release stating ” Business Class customers are asked to wear their face shield and mask onboard at their own discretion, as they enjoy more space and privacy.”
Qatar Airways was the first, and for a while, the only airline to allow passengers in its business class cabin, or beloved Qsuites, to use masks “at their discretion” rather than as standard policy. Qatar Airways provides privacy doors in most business class seats, transforming seats into ‘suites’.
Cathay Pacific’s new directive was unearthed by Executive Traveller via an internal memo to staff, which has since been confirmed.
For context, Cathay Pacific’s first-class cabin features only six lie-flat seats laid out in a spacious and private 1-1-1 configuration. Each seat is a full 36 inches wide and offers 81 inches of pitch. While Cathay doesn’t offer fully enclosed suites with closing doors like some of its competitors, this configuration offers plenty of privacy. In business class on Cathay’s A350-900s there are 38 lie-flat seats laid out in a 1-2-1 reverse-herringbone configuration, split among two cabins.
The relaxed restrictions only apply when a passenger’s seat is reclined in the fully-flat position. This might come as a relief to Cathay frequent flyers who are still traveling, but it has raised lots of questions about safety and equality.
It’s intriguing that Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific is the second airline to join in reducing mask mandates. Hong Kong has been one of the strictest cities in fighting off covid-19, and even flight crews face huge restrictions when entering. Travel corridors with Singapore were put on hold over 60 cases, bursting plans for regional travel.
While China’s airlines are letting the rich enjoy, a family was kicked off a United Airlines jet and banned for life all because their 2-year-old daughter refused to wear her mask.
No matter the nation, with the left, the ONLY standard is a double one.
I hope people refuse to fly until all mask requirements are removed. This is just stupid now.
If it makes you feel better, the first two people I knew who died of COVID (way back in about April 2020) were a pilot and a passenger in a private jet.
They are not even being discrete about elite exemption anymore !
Who knew only the rich had clean breath
Wow. Those darn COVID germs must be so smart! They can tell your annual income (after taxes) based on your level of immunity.
If you’re rich, they move on, ‘cause you probably don’t taste quite as good as a poor person would. ///
I would think their business would jump up substantially as many people are disgusted by the mask mandate and would gladly pay the fares for the freedom from masking!
Peasant #1: "Who's that?"
Peasant #2: "Must be a King."
Peasant #1: "How do you figure?"
Peasant #2: "He hasn't got Sh#t all over him."
The masses are dirty and unwashed. The rich are clean and pure. QED.
Warm up the guillotines.
Ridiculouser and ridiculouser. Perhaps the lowly coach folks will need to quad mask to keep the business and firsties from getting sick. SMDH!
Even though the seats are spaced 6 feet apart in first-class, IT’S THE SAME AIR CIRCULATING IN THE ENTIRE PLANE
That’s correct.
Planes do have very good scrubbers, much better than a building, for example. But it’s still a crowded, pressurized, tube.
All that said, this is a step in the right direction. It’s an admission that masks are useless.
Masks may be stupid but at least they are cheap. The real killer is mandatory Covid testing. If you want to fly from London to Gran Canaria, for example, you have to add on about $250-300 dollars per person because you need a test result to get there and another to get back.
We saw a 14.99 sale and were going to book a vacation but the extra 300 Euros (and we're lucky we only have to pay for a one way test) made it DOA.
I read that for now airlines aren't requiring tests for domestic flights. I hope the nitwits in the Biden administration don't decide that using testing as an excuse to kill the airline industry would be good for the environment when only the wealthy donor class can afford to fly.
First class seats are a bit further apart which is how they supposedly justify it. But they are not that much further apart. Just another bizarre news article.
Safety and equality? Don’t they mean equity?
We need to take all the blood from rich people and redistribute it so everyone is equally immune!
The relaxed restrictions only apply when a passenger’s seat is reclined in the fully-flat position
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So as long as we are lying down, we don’t need a mask?
I can’t believe all the countries who rely heavily on tourism can continue to mandate what everyone should know by now is just BS. I love to travel, but I can find things to do at home.
Or: CCP Virus is used as tool, used by the wealthy, to control the peasants. "Rules" don't apply to the rich.
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