TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Federal judge blocks mask mandate for public transportation

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/federal-judge-blocks-mask-mandate-for-public-transportation

The ruling of a US District Judge is binding on the Federal Government unless stayed or reversed, and the government hasn't indicated whether it will appeal.

Finally some shreds of sanity returning!

Not supposed to be political!!

And so far, it is not political that I can see.

Not political in my book. Just reporting news most of us are waiting for. There has also been some talk about discontinuing the 24 hr requirement for testing for returning international flights to USA.

We shall see what happens. I very much expected the US attorney to appeal the ruling, but maybe not.

I hope it holds up. We leave Friday. Submitting EHAS tomorrow. That's 3 days. Right?? Hoping for Verifly approval after receiving EHAS approval. Verifly has already approved our vaccination cards. Getting excited.

TSA at Seattle International Airport announced they will not enforce mask mandate. Alaska Air just put Masks Optional on their website. Flight to and from Canada will still be required.

Delta just announced the same for employees and passengers.

Any word from Jet Blue yet?

Looks like the White House cancelled the mask mandate extension and leaving it up to individuals to make own decisions. I doubt any airline will be mandating to wear masks now.

Friend that works for American just posted on Facebook that masks were optional on American now.

Online many people are reporting from flights that airplane captains are happily informing their passengers that they can take off their masks if they choose. The Points Guy is reporting "Tonight, United, Alaska, Delta, American and Southwest Airlines all announcing they would drop their mask requirements." I think it is finally over folks.

👍👏👍Now let the powers get rid of the negative test to return to USA on international flights.🤞🙏

And so far, it is not political that I can see.[/quot


"Finally some shreds of sanity returning! " This smacks of anti masking jn my opinion, and shouldn't be accepted just because it is in your favor.

Regardless this is big news and news that impacts many of us here.

USA Today story lists the responses of all the major airlines as of 8:30ish tonight EDT.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/trav...-mask-mandate-planes-flights/7362763001/

This is Great news. I hope the ruling by this judge sticks so we can judge for ourselves whether want to wear a mask or not on a plane going forward.

Not for me. I am immunocompromised so I will stil wear my mask. I don't understand the being happy thing.
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jet Blue probably doesn't have enough available staff to respond

This doesn’t pertain to international flights just Domestic flights in the USA

And that is your choice. The vast majority of us are not immunocompromised, and are therefore happy that we are not forced to wear them.

Not entirely accurate; it depends on the requirements of the destination.

So what are the requirements of SXM?

Flying today and tomorrow. We'll be the individuals making our own decisions to wear a mask.

I can't answer that, but friends are flying there today, so I'll find out.

Good for you, I am just happy that your decision does not dictate mine. When I fly next month I will not be wearing a mask. We can all get along and be respectful of the choices others make.

Very nicely stated and I agree absolutely!

I too will make my own decision. I will wear it boarding and on the plane until the plane is fully boarded as I'll be one of the first on sitting in FC and all the others will be walking past me without masks breathing down. One fully boarded my mask will come off.

They are listed in this article.
LINK

Hi Folks,
Leaving tomorrow out of EWR .
Now I can't wait till they let you smoke again on the plane !!!! JUST KIDDING !!!!!!

You had me until I got to the "JUST KIDDING !!!!!!"

Long long overdue. Looking forward to not wearing a mask and if there is an appeal which I fully expect there to be one then I hope they appeal the decision by the court but still end the mask mandate.

I am really surprised that the Justice Dept did not immediately file an appeal and ask for the mandate to remain in place. The standard for it remaining in place would be met fairly easily on appeal, so perhaps they are not going to appeal at all.

I think the Gov was going to drop the mandate after the latest extension of a few weeks so probably no appeal. Now the return testing is more of an issue for me and I would REALLY like to see that dropped.

boucharda--I'm with you on that one. I will wear my mask on a plane for a while regardless, and ESPECIALLY at the airport, in those huge lines!!!! But I figure we will still have to test in June..

We flew yesterday from SXM to MIA and then on to STL on AA. As we got on the plane in St Martin the flight attendant who was not masked said masks were optional. Probably 70%-80% of the fliers did not wear a mask. The pilots and the flight attendants were not masked. Same on the flight from MIA to STL.

Carol we wore our mask on the flight home as required. except for eating and drinking. Our plane once landed was only allowed to release 75 passengers at a time because the terminal in Toronto was full we were in first class and were in the first group. The maze inside was huge and felt that definitely a mask was necessary and required. Now Canadians do not have to test to return but going through Customs my passport got a green dot and my wife got a pink dot which means she was picked for random testing which meant another huge line. She already got the results, negative. But now for the next 14 days we will get an e-mail asking if we have any symptoms BS. At least EHAS only requires a 5 day temperature check.

Suggest those wearing mask use an N95. Little data supporting efficacy of cloth masks.

Our experience past two days international travel. Tuesday GCM - MIA. This was the day the mandate was lifted. GCM terminal was fully masked as I expect most folks did not know or GCM mandated it. Once airborne the pilot announced the change and while there were a few woooo hoooo's most stayed masked. Arrival at MIA terminal and again probably 75 % masked.

Wednesday MIA to SXM again I would guess after bypassing a line a mile long at TSA about 2/3 to 3/4 were masked. On board cabin crew were masked while serving, unmasked the rest of the time. PJIA would not allow arriving passengers into terminal until they put on a mask.

We wore our n95's through it all. I expect masked numbers will go down fairly quickly

Good to know. I respect the personal choice for being masked or not.