WaPo editorial board supports federal no-fly list for passengers who don't obey mask mandates on flight

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The Washington Post editorial board expressed support on Monday for a federal no-fly-list that would include passengers who flout mask mandates during their flight.

The editorial board published an op-ed titled "Grandstanding Republican senators try to protect unruly passengers," which focussed on the Republican opposition to a national no-fly-list that seeks to bar disruptive passengers from future flights. The registry, which has long been reserved for perceived terrorists, would expand to include unruly passengers, including those who prove themselves unwilling to abide by the federal mask mandate for air travel.

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While GOP senators vehemently oppose the idea of a national registry that equates mask flouters to terrorists, the editorial board thinks it's a "no-brainer" to address the mounting confrontations triggered by the pandemic.

Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian voiced his support for adding disruptive passengers to a no-fly list earlier this month.  (REUTERS/Dieu-Nalio Chery)

"The federal government does not maintain an official no-brainer list' of policies," the column reads. "If it did, there’s a good chance many Americans would applaud if one were a rule barring violent, unruly and disruptive airline passengers from the skies."

"Applause has been exactly the reaction on some planes when aggressive passengers were removed following moments of onboard mayhem, often related to mask mandate…nonetheless, some Republicans in Washington are grandstanding, rejecting no-nonsense measures to keep passengers and crews safe on airlines," the editorial board continues. 

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The column references a recent letter sent to Attorney General Merrick Garland by 8 GOP senators who voiced their opposition to the effort.

The Washington Post echoes call for a federal no-fly-list that would include passengers who flout mask mandates during their flight. (ERIC BARADAT/AFP via Getty Images)

"The senators wrote in response to a proposal from the chief executive of Delta Air Lines, Ed Bastian, who suggested a no-fly list be established by the federal government. In his view, and in that of the main union representing flight attendants, a list barring even the relatively small number of passengers convicted of unruly onboard conduct would be useful to combat an explosion over the past year of such incidents, most of them related to mask-wearing," the board writes.

They continue, "The senators’ tortured logic is that a no-fly list for unruly passengers opposed to onboard mask mandates would seemingly equate them to terrorists who seek to actively take the lives of Americans and perpetrate attacks on the homeland," as they wrote in their letter. The key word there is ‘seemingly,’ which the senators stretch beyond its breaking point."

The federal mandate requires air travelers to wear masks inside airports and on airplanes. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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The board said that should a no-fly-list be implemented, the "government should take reasonable steps to calibrate its impact, including by ensuring that bans on individuals are temporary, for a duration linked to the offense’s severity, and by establishing a process by which sanctioned individuals can appeal.

"But most people are clear on the difference between a terrorist and a miscreant who assaults a flight attendant," they write. "And most are equally certain that both pose a threat and should be banned from the skies."