In order to curb spreading of Covid-19, flight attendants and passengers are required to wear masks on board. Because safety is more important, right?!
However, Garuda Indonesia did something that really surprise us. They don’t allowed their flight attendants wearing face masks after receiving complaints from unhappy passengers.
According to the report of Malay Mail, Irfan Setiaputra who is airline’s chief executive officer, said the company had received many complaints saying that the passengers could not see the expressions of the stewardesses when they are being served on board.
“Many of Garuda’s adult passengers have been complaining about our stewardesses wearing masks. (Because of the mask), the passengers cannot tell if they are smiling or frowning,” Irfan said in a virtual discussion which was hosted by Bina Nusantara University on Tuesday.
Irfan added that the flight attendants would gradually replace the face masks by wearing face shields. “With this, human interaction on the plane can still occur, although minimized, and everyone can feel safe but also comfortable.”
He continued to say, “We do not want passengers to board the plane feeling unhappy or stressed out, or thinking, ‘oh, is this an ICU?’ when they get on. Everyone wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), covered from head-to-toe, that’s not right.”
However, as of now on Garuda official website, it stated social distancing rules will be implemented where both passengers and crew are required to wear a mask on board.
Health checks will be conducted on every flight attendant and all passengers are needed to undergo a polymerase chain reaction test to check for Covid-19 before embarking on the flight.
However, Garuda Indonesia’s decision of asking their flight attendants to stop wearing face masks had gave many people the hump and questioned the airline’s priorities.
Netizens’ responses:
Source: Malay Mail | Jakarta Post