Travelers react to mask changes: They’re still required inside Philly’s airport, but not on planes

Travelers on Tuesday digested new pandemic rules that now allow passengers to ditch masks on planes and in airports across the country, but, in Philadelphia, still require masks to be worn inside airport terminals.

Natalie Cooper didn’t know her Spirit Airlines flight from Philly to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., no longer required passengers to wear masks until she reached Philadelphia International Airport Tuesday.

“It changes and I don’t really watch the news ever,” said Cooper, a 27-year-old accounting student from Florida. She came to Philadelphia last week to visit a friend. Even with the relaxing of some mask-wearing restrictions, Cooper said she will remain cautious. She has a heart condition and continues to wear a mask inside public spaces most of the time.

“I don’t know if I’m ready yet” to be around others inside without wearing a mask herself, she said.

PHL’s decision to require masks, announced via Twitter on Monday night, came after a federal judge struck down federal requirements for travelers to wear masks on public transit — a ruling that prompted the U.S. Transportation Security Administration and major airlines to drop their enforcement of masking rules. The judge’s decision flew in the face of recent guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the White House extending a mask mandate on public transportation and planes through May 3.

» READ MORE: Philly’s indoor mask mandate is back

The federal judge’s move has largely left it up to local authorities to decide masking rules in transit settings. The city of Philadelphia reinstated indoor masking, starting April 18, in response to rising case counts of COVID-19. So for now, travelers inside PHL’s terminals must wear masks, the airport said. Yet once they board a domestic flight, masks will be optional.

“While our airline partners are no longer requiring masks on planes, a current City of Philadelphia Department of Health mandate requires everyone to wear a face mask in public indoor settings in the city,” PHL spokesperson Heather Redfern said. “This city mandate applies on the PHL campus, across all terminals in Philadelphia.”

Redfern also pointed to a May 2020 emergency regulation that “requires masks to be worn on PHL premises by passengers, Division of Aviation staff and other airport workers.” PHL has free masks available for anyone who needs them, Redfern added.

At the United Airlines ticketing area Tuesday morning, very few people walked through the sliding doors sans mask.

Emmanuel Bandakpara, 39, of New Castle, Del., was getting ready to travel to his native country, Sierra Leone, and said he still planned to wear a mask during his flight.

He saw both a “negative impact and a positive impact” in the new changes to mask requirements.

COVID-19 isn’t over and people who are vaccinated and boosted can still get the illness, said Bandakpara, a student and staffer at a group home. On the flip side, he said, he knows people are tired of masking and wish they could just relax.

Traveler Julie Fowler, 49, who had been visiting family in Philadelphia, wasn’t wearing a mask at PHL Tuesday morning. She did have a mask in her bag ready if anyone made a fuss, she said, as she prepared to fly home to Panama City Beach, Fla.

“I’m ready to get back to normal,” Fowler said. Wearing a mask “should be a choice at this point.”

Fowler said she, her husband, and son got COVID-19 back in January, and that it felt like having a cold. “The only reason we tested is because we had people that we knew had gotten sick,” she said, “but other than that, I don’t know if we’d have tested. I actually thought I had bad allergies.”

Late on Monday, TSA announced it would no longer enforce mask requirements for travelers in airports and other transportation hubs. Still, the agency said, “CDC continues to recommend that people wear masks in indoor public transportation settings at this time.”

American Airlines, United, Delta, Southwest and several other carriers all said customers can now choose whether to wear a mask on board. American, the dominant air carrier at PHL, noted that “face masks may still be required based on local ordinances, or when traveling to/from certain international locations based on country requirements.”

William Pohlhaus, 47, is immunocompromised, so for him being in a plane with recirculated air is a little nerve wracking.

On Tuesday he was “still kind of processing” the lifting of the mask mandate on planes, he said, and planned to wear a mask on his flight from PHL to Houston.

“I know there’s a large population that’s unvaccinated,” said Pohlhaus, a Villanova University IT professional who lives in Media. “And, you know, I don’t want to see anyone get COVID or get hurt.”

Pohlhaus didn’t see any issue with navigating a continued mask mandate inside the airport.

Living in Media, he’s used to some businesses requiring masks and others not.

“It’s kind of just par for the course. Right? I mean, you go to a place that says put on a mask, you put on a mask,” Pohlhaus said. “You go to a place that says you don’t need a mask, then that’s your option, right? So I don’t find it confusing at all.”