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After being criticized for not doing enough to make passengers wear masks, the nation’s biggest airlines said on Monday that they would get tougher on people who refused to cover their faces.

Airlines for America, a trade association, said that its members would take masks more seriously, including by not letting people without face coverings get on planes. But many big airlines have said that before, and passengers concerned about their health have pointed out that enforcement on board has often been lax.

“U.S. airlines are very serious about requiring face coverings on their flights,” Nicholas Calio, the chief executive of Airlines for America, said in a statement. “Face coverings are one of several public health measures recommended by the C.D.C. as an important layer of protection for passengers and customer-facing employees.”

According to the association, all of four of the largest U.S. airlines — Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines — have agreed to communicate their mask policies to customers before flying, reiterate the requirements in onboard announcements and enforce them when customers refuse to comply. Southwest issued a separate statement saying that it would “deny boarding” to passengers that refused to comply with its face covering requirement.

United said that, starting Thursday, any passenger who openly disregarded its rules could face a temporary travel ban on future flights. The airline, like others, grants exceptions for those with a medical condition or disability that prevents them from wearing a mask, as well as those who cannot put on or remove a mask themselves and small children. Customers may remove their masks to eat and drink.

The airline association said each airline would establish its own punishment for passengers who refuse to comply, “up to and including suspension of flying privileges.”

Airlines have so far been reluctant to publicly establish clear consequences for failure to wear face coverings, and many passengers have chided the companies on social media with photos of planes filled with people not wearing masks and sitting close to each other.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/business/stock-market-today-coronavirus.html