[Updated] Delta: Washington Post Article On Toddlers And Young Children Needing Masks Is #FakeNews

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Update: The Washington Post has corrected their article and added the following note, “An earlier version of this post misstated Delta Air Line’s face covering policy for children. This version has been corrected.”


Originally posted on 7/26:

Last week, American, Southwest, and United eliminated medical mask exemptions and added requirements for anyone 2 or older to wear a mask.

I’m all for mask requirements on a plane, but anyone that’s a parent knows that toddlers don’t exactly listen to requirements. Requiring a 2 year old to keep a mask on for the duration of a flight might sound good to a policy maker, but that doesn’t mean it’s practical. One of the many reasons we fly with carseats for our toddlers is so they will be secure in their seats for the entire flight. It’s just too easy for a toddler to take off their airplane seatbelt!

Commenter aaron may have said it best last week, “I have a hard enough time getting my 2 year old to keep his pants on!”

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47 Comments On "[Updated] Delta: Washington Post Article On Toddlers And Young Children Needing Masks Is #FakeNews"

All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.

Unmasked mask

My 3 yr old with sensory issues won’t wear a mask no matter what.

Jeff

Don’t fly

Grateful recipient of advice

Ok. So kind of you to provide your expert advice free of charge

Dan\'s the Man

@Jeff:
Don’t comment

Me

This guy is an idiot.

Me

Jeff I mean.

FBR

Maybe from age 6 and up can be required, but not even that. Perhaps 8 or even 10 should be the minimum. 2 to 3 year old is ridiculous, not happening. Let’s see who will be the first to have a run-in due to their 2 year old being unmasked…

24 months is nuts

Pure and simple, crazy

Nancy

Anyone know the policy of Frontier?

Dan\'s the Man

I heard Spirit & Frontier are not requiring young kids to wear a mask if you pay a $5 “Mask Waiver Fee for Young Children”
Kidding of course but I guess I shouldn’t give them any ideas, right Dan?

Js

Im booked mint on JetBlue from lax to ewr with an infant. Will I be allowed to put a car seat on one of the blocked off mint seats?

Dave

Jetblue is blocking middle seats in Economy through at least Sept 8. I don’t think Mint is blocking any seats.

Js

“ Their mint business class seats normally sell for $599-$1,599 each way, but are on sale for just $368-$398 each way between Newark and Los Angeles.

Plus, they are blocking seats through at least September 8th, so they are only selling 10 out of the 16 seats in the cabin:”

According to Dan they are

Dave

I don’t see mention of it by Jetblue regarding Mint. Nonetheless, if Mint has a nice showing on their flight, it’s possible that it may cause an uproar if one tries to put their ‘free’ infant in an empty blocked seat, which is situated near someone else.

Delta costumer

I spoke to Delta this morning and the rep told me there is no exemptions for any children over 2 years old when i told her i don’t think my 3 year old daughter would keep on a mask for the whole flight she said her that if I tell her to she would listen. I asked her if she has a 3 yr old. Lol

M

We recently flew WN with almost-2, 3, 5,9.
They all wore masks except the almost-2 yr old.

MaiaG

Kol hakavod!
I think parents should at least try, just like you try to keep their shoes on. Most kids can get used to wearing masks. But 2 is not realistic snd there will be some older kids who can’t eithet. But don’t just sau oh they’re kids so it doesn’t matter. Try! And try to get kids as young as possible to cover their coughs or sneezes.
Every effort is important and appteciated!

Martin

Can a parent be put on the no fly list for there 3 year old boy wearing a mask?

Joetraveller

As careless an inaccurate as the Post article may have been, to call it ‘fake news’ is to lump it in with contrived news stories (primarily but not exclusively from another news organization) that are creating serious trust issues with journalism. Best if the term is applied only to attempts to distort facts.

Ay

Mandatory masks for children is nothing short of child abuse! Based on pseudo-science, study after study shows the same thing children rarely get the virus, and even if they do, they don’t transmit it to adults.

Michoel

Until it’s proven that they can’t transmit the virus, we should assume that they can. They would be the responsible thing to do when we are dealing with people’s life’s.

ay

Usually it’s pretty tough to prove a negative, but I got one for you here (I can send you 100 such articles in newspapers and medical journals all saying the same thing) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-19/covid-s-spread-in-schools-is-questioned-in-latest-nordic-study

Michoel

“ Nordic Study Suggests Open Schools Don’t Spread Virus Much”
Suggests=Inconclusive

A dad

“There was no measurable difference in the number of coronavirus cases among children in Sweden, where schools were left open, compared with neighboring Finland, where schools were shut, according to the findings.”

A dad

We also have to realize that when keeping the kids home we are dealing with people’s lives as well. We’re increasing mental health issues, suicide and suicide ideation, Child abuse, Single parents who can’t go to work… and the three poor and disadvantaged suffer the most

bubbay

I believe that even 2 year olds can be told that they must wear a mask, but parents shouldn’t be penalized for the toddlers not obeying. I work with young children, and they often want to do what everyone else does. True, not all kids will listen, but it is certainly worth a try!

Yoni

They want to do what everyone else does lasts for a couple of minutes. Not for a long flight when they can’t breathe. Do you have little children???

bubbay

I have young grandchildren, who enjoy doing what everyone else does. If the adults around them complain about masks, they won’t want to wear them at all. If people around them comply without complaint, they will wear them for at least a little while. Like I said, it wouldn’t be fair to penalize the parents for kids being kids, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to try and get them used to wearing masks.

Joe

While I agree, it’s hard for age of 2 to wear a mask, I will choose American, Southwest, and United over other airlines when going without kids on vacation, as this rule essentially makes them an adult only flight, quiet and relaxing and enjoyable.

Yoni

I know this is off topic, but would you recommend flying with a Doona?

A dad

Why not? I have. I made sure to know where it says underneath that it’s approved for aircraft and I took screenshots of the airlines car seat policy from their website. I didn’t have to resort to these (on Delta), perhaps that’s because I boarded holding it as a car seat so I didn’t have to get into a discussion explaining that it’s not a stroller…

flaggie

flew delta lax to jfk last week. my 5yr old 3yr old and 2yr old, no masks for them and no problems.

aaron

@Dan, thanks for the shout out!

I think it’s cruel and unusual punishment for the parents.
Seems like the other airlines just copy and pasted from united without even reading the full text of the rule.
Most surprising for me is southwest, as they usually fly above this kind of nonsense.

DM

I believe parents should try to make their kids wear masks when flying but if your kid needs a break or can’t keep it on just give them food and drink and their won’t be any problems. I sat next to a teenager when I was flying last month and he had a bag of popcorn and ate it the entire flight and the flight attendants never told him to put his mask on.

moe

i hope that wasn’t a JFK to Australia flight cause that would be one big bag of popcorn…

Michoel

Lol

Eli

The poll is basically whether you’re a parent or not.

common sense

Not a parent and voted no.

Just wondering

Does it occur to anyone that requiring masks on airlines are completely worthless since you are permitted to take them off to eat you are already exposing everyone to your germs. Furthermore disposable masks only work for 2-4 hours so for a long flight you are not accomplishing much. If you are concerned about flying these rules should not change anything for you.

YoLaViajera

Children who don’t have sensory issues or other challenges, usually are able to follow directions by around 7 or 8 years old. Again, this varies widely depending on the child. I think requiring children 8 and older to wear masks on planes is probably doable. Again, with exceptions for children who have sensory issues and/or other behavioral or sensory challenges.

Grenade

Ban little kids from air travel! And old people!

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