Following a report in Business Insider South Africa (quickly picked up by South Africa’s consumer press), a controversy quickly erupted over the fact that passengers from South Africa, Zambia and Mozambique were being singled out and made to wear more protective equipment than passengers from other countries.
The furore arose because journalist, Carlien du Plessis tweeted a pic of herself wearing the transparent visor and mask on board a Qatar Airways flight on February 15 – she said it was then mandatory for all the passengers on board the flight to wear both, and a crew member had told her it was “for her own safety”.
Yet, by Saturday morning, three days into a furore of criticism that followed the journalist’s tweet, the regulation had been dropped.
The airline’s PR company, responding to Travel News’s questions about the controversy, said on Saturday morning, February 19: “Qatar Airways confirms that face-shields are not mandatory on board any of our flights. Face shields were required as a short-term, precautionary measure that is no longer in operation. Passengers will still be required to wear face masks on all flights to ensure the continued safety of our passengers and crew.”
The statement on the airline’s website which clearly stated that passengers on flights from the three countries were obliged to wear not only a face-mask but a clear visor as well, was taken down later on Saturday.
