Judge Overturns Mask Mandate on Planes; Biden Administration Says it will Appeal

Washington, DC (WorkersCompensation.com) – The administration of President Joe Biden said it will appeal a decision by a federal judge in Florida that struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) extension of the mask mandate on airplanes and other forms of public transportation.  

U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, of the District Court for the Middle District of Florida, ruled that the CDC had exceeded its authority and failed to follow proper rulemaking procedures. The 59-page ruling stems from a lawsuit filed in 2021 by two plaintiffs and the Health Freedom Defense Fund.   

"The court concludes that the mask mandate exceeds the CDC's statutory authority and violates the procedures required for agency rulemaking under the APA," the judge wrote.  

The ruling led to swift reaction by the airline industry, as carriers from American Airlines to United said mask wearing was now optional for travelers aboard their aircraft and in airport terminals.   

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines pushed for federal regulations requiring passengers to wear masks. In July 2020, Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastain said in an interview with CNN that while the industry was enforcing their own mask mandates, federal enforcement of rules requiring airline passengers to wear masks was needed. The mandate was necessary, airline officials said, to not only protect passengers, but to keep employees safe while working in enclosed spaces.   

On Jan. 29, 2021, the CDC issued guidance “requiring the wearing of masks by people on public transportation conveyances or on the premises of transportation hubs to prevent spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. This Order was effective as of 11:59 p.m. February 1, 2021 and was published in the Federal Register on February 3, 2021.”  

However, mask wearing became a flash point for violence on airlines. Since the beginning of 2021, the incidents of unruly passengers has increased and many of those incidents started due to mask wearing rules, officials said. Over the course of 2021, the FAA said airlines had reported nearly 6,000 unruly passenger incidents. Of those, 4,290 were mask-related, the FAA said.   

Unruly passengers attacked not only fellow passengers, but also flight crew members, in some cases sending flight crew members to the hospital with injuries.   

As of April 19, 2022, the FAA said airlines have reported 1,233 incidents of unruly passengers, 797 of which are mask related.   

Recently, as the pandemic seemed to subside, and incidents of coronavirus fell across the country, airlines and others called for an end to the mandate. However, the CDC, citing new variants of the coronavirus and rising cases in some cities, extended the mask mandate to May 3.   

On March 23, CEOs from all of the major U.S. airlines called on the president to drop the federal mask mandate along with international pre-departure COVID-19 testing requirements. Airlines for America, a travel-industry lobbying group, called on the administration to “sunset federal transportation travel restrictions,” saying the restrictions no longer reflect the “realities of the current pandemic climate.   

"It makes no sense that people are still required to wear masks on airplanes, yet are allowed to congregate in crowded restaurants, schools and at sporting events without masks, despite none of these venues having the protective air filtration system that aircraft do," the letter said.  

Some 21 states sued the Biden administration to drop the mask mandate.   

"President Biden's shortsighted, heavy-handed and unlawful travel policies are frustrating travelers and causing chaos on public transportation," Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody, who is leading the states' effort, said in a statement. "It's long past time to alleviate some of the pressure on travelers and those working in the travel industry by immediately ending Biden's unlawful public transportation mandates."  

Judge Mizelle’s ruling effectively ended the mask mandate. The U.S. Department of Justice, however, said it will appeal her decision.   

Other transportation companies, like Uber, Lyft and Amtrak, also chose to end their mask requirements. Some major transportation organizations, like the Metropolitan Transit Authority in New York City, will continue to require masks.   

A national flight attendants union was cautiously optimistic about the ruling in a statement released on Monday evening.   

"While we all look forward to the day masks are no longer required, we also know the federal mask mandate for transportation was critical in its early days for confidence in travel and safety for workers and travelers while mitigation factors such as vaccines, adequate supplies of PPE, and testing became more accessible. We urge all leaders to consider a thoughtful transition and implementation to any new policy, which also includes on-going personal choice of protection for crew and passengers,” the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO (AFA), said in its statement. "We urge everyone to practice patience, remain calm, and to continue to follow crewmember instructions. And we remind passengers that it is legally required to follow crewmember instructions, and that disruptive behavior has serious consequences as it puts everyone at risk. Our workspace is your travel space. Let's get where we're going, together."