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Mask wearing rules for Jet2, EasyJet, Ryanair, British Airways and TUI

23
MAR.
blog

Mask wearing rules for Jet2, EasyJet, Ryanair, British Airways and TUI

Do I need to wear a face mask at UK airports?

With all remaining Covid restrictions lifted in England on February 24th it became no longer a legal requirement to wear a face mask at venues indoors, including airports. While the wearing of face masks continues to be recommended it is now at the choice of the traveller, if they chose to wear a mask while present at the airport. However, you will still find that certain UK airlines state on their websites that masks should still be worn at the airport which makes this rule conflicting. Is it time for the rules to become more consistent and that mask wearing become, across the board, a personal choice?

Do I need to wear a face mask on the plane?

As with the question above it very much depends on which airline you are flying with. Here we have tried to summarise the rules per the main airlines used by passengers from the UK.

JET2

At the beginning of March Jet2 became the first UK airline to drop the mandatory use of face masks on flights departing the UK (excluding Scotland). It was felt that as the legal requirement to wear masks was dropped in all other circumstances, the same should be said of travelling on their planes. Of course, the company is following Government guidance and still openly encouraging passengers to wear them, but this is something that cannot be enforced.

Those departing Scottish airports and are aged 6 and over will still have to continue to wear a face mask at the airport, boarding gate and on the plane.

Of course, while these rules are relevant to the countries in the UK, passengers must ensure they know the face mask wearing rules of their destination country.

 

EASYJET

EasyJet have just announced that mandatory use of face masks to those countries where there is no legal requirement to wear a face mask, will end this Sunday (27th March 2022)

Passengers aged 6 and over and not medically exempt will still need to wear face masks if the destination country still has laws in place. The airline said it will continue to remove the mask-wearing rule on other international routes as and when both ends of the route has no legal requirement. It stated: "As a pan European airline operating between over 30 countries, we must continue to ensure that we and our customers follow the legal requirements of all the countries we fly to.

The airline’s website currently states that EasyJet will not accept scarves, visors or masks with valves as acceptable face coverings and insist that it must be “FFP2 (or equivalent) certified, surgical or cloth”

Failure to wear the correct face covering will result in not being able to board your flight.

Passengers travelling from Scotland still have to follow the country’s guidelines that face mask wearing is still mandatory at airports and on the planes, unless exempt.

 

RYANAIR

Ryanair continues to monitor the situation and has indicated that mandatory face mask wearing on board their flights is likely to be dropped as early as the end of April/beginning of May.

For now, the rules are still in place that all passengers 6 and over must wear a face mask at the boarding gate, on the plane etc.

In particular if you are travelling to, from or within Italy, Austria or Germany, a FFP2 face mask must be worn as it is the only type that will be accepted.

 

BRITISH AIRWAYS

As of March 16th, British Airways changed their policy on wearing face masks. In line with the changes in law within England the airline has stated that those destinations where it doesn’t require you to wear a face mask, the choice to wear a face mask becomes optional. For those destinations, where there is still a requirement to do so, the airline asks that the same rules apply for those travelling from England and Northern Ireland.

 

TUI

As with Jet2, TUI was one of the first to decide to scrap the mandatory use of face masks for flights departing England and Northern Ireland. TUI does advise passengers to carry a face mask to ensure you are not caught out by arriving in a country that still requires you to wear one. As per the government guidelines they still promote the recommendation to wear a face mask for your own protection.

Those passengers aged 12 and over travelling from Scotland and Wales will still be required to wear a face mask regardless if they are fully vaccinated or not.

We hope that clears things up a bit! We will keep all our readers up to date with the newest travel changes and remember if you do require currency for your trip away then take advantage of the best rates and service on the market with Currency Online Group.

 

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22nd March 2022