New Mask Policy on Cathay Pacific Shows the Power of What Money Can Buy

Money can’t buy you love.

But, apparently, if you’re wealthy enough it can buy you a break from wearing your face mask on Cathay Pacific Airways.

The Hong Kong-based airline says its first- and business-class passengers can remove their masks while reclining during a flight, citing the configuration of its partitioned design in those two particular cabins on its planes.

Cathay Pacific, a perennial award-winner for its onboard service, informed its crews of the update in an internal memo seen by the travel and review website Executive Traveller. The airline told employees that the personal protection equipment can be taken off “when a passenger is lying flat in business or first class. … Seats in first and business class are more spacious with partitions, and passengers are exempted when lying flat for sleep,” a spokesperson for the airline said, adding that Cathay Pacific’s fleet features air filtration systems “capable of filtering 99.9999 percent of dust particles, including virus and bacteria.”

But while high-paying customers might be happy over the reprieve from masks if they recline, there’s one group not exactly thrilled with the new ruling – flight attendants.

The Hong Kong newspaper The Standard said some flight attendants remain wary about the amount of contact between crew and passengers for a couple of obvious reasons. One being the transmittal of the coronavirus, the other being concern that it creates something of a caste system on board in which money can buy you certain exemptions.

In all likelihood, even the richest American won’t be able to buy the same kind of convenience on U.S. carriers. The new mask mandate from the Biden Administration calls for masks to be worn at all times in the airport, at the gates and on the plane except for when eating or drinking.