Visiting a notary here in The Netherlands today, I was quite surprised to see that all screens had been removed and handshakes were the order of the day again. Yet I would be expected to wear a mask for numerous hours on an aircraft. It's especially bizaar when I travel in Business Class next to my spouse with more than one and a half meters separating us from other passengers.

It's not just flying but in some shops etc that are now asking for masks. I know the arguments for/against but I sure hope we stop it asap.
Try it wearing glasses and behind the ear hearing aids like I have to.
The other HUGE problem is that I now can't lip read and have become cut off in many situations that I could cope with easily normally. I now find I have to take my wife with me.
" Oh you're exempt from wearing one" is the daftest quote I keep getting.
Yes I have flown short haul recently and it was not easy.

Where I live masks are mandatory everywhere except inside one's own home. I hate the bloody things, and as I'm double vaccinated I'd be happy to go without one and accept whatever risk that involves. We can't live this way forever.

If mask wearing is going to remain mandatory on airliners then I won't be travelling overseas again. As for domestic travel, I'd prefer to do a road trip in my car or on my motorbike.

Because the vaccine doesn't stop you being a carrier

I hate wearing a mask but I've been wearing them in HK from about March 2020 now and we are the only bloody place were we have a law requiring you to wear a mask...and another law making it illegal to wear a mask...

If I get to travel again freely I don't care less if I have to wear a mask until covid is no longer a risk...I just want to travel again.

Where I live, masks are mandatory in cars as well if more than one in vehicle.

ZFT, actually that's the case here as well.

And the vaccine doesn't stop you from getting COVID-19.

A mask doesn't stop you from getting or transmitting Covid either. At best a mask is ~10% effective at stopping transmission and that's for N-95 and surgical masks. Those simply cloth things most people wear are much less effective (while the vaccines are ~90% effective).

Eventually, with most of the populations vaccinated, cases dropping, better treatments, and most importantly fatalities down sharply, people will learn to accept Covid as a part of life and death - much like we treat the flu today. When that happens, the Covid theater will largely disappear.

I find that a mask on the other person is more like 90% effective in reducing airborne particles. If we both wear masks thats 1-(1-.0,9)(1-0,9) or 99% reduction between us.So, as an old guy, I prefer those odds, and I'm willing to wear a mask to prevent transmission to others in the event I am Covid positive, even being vaccinated.

- tends to stop you dying from it though.

I’m on holiday in Dubai at the moment. Flew here last week from London on EK wearing a mask of course. I don’t like mask wearing but am prepared to put up with it in order to travel in the same way I put up with airport security, taking off belt and shoes, sorting liquids into a plastic bag etc etc. We have also had to put up with getting a pre departure from the UK PCR test (as required by UAE) and will have to have a day 2 PCR test when we return to the UK. The only way I could see mask wearing being dropped by airlines would be if a condition of carriage was that every passenger was double jabbed, and I don’t see that happening so I think for quite a while it will be a case of wear a mask or don’t fly. In our case the lure of travel was strong enough for us to put up with the hassles.

A pragmatic attitude to a situation none (I assume?) of us like or have any control over.

No, it's not 90%. That's literally fake news. Masks are not some magic bullet to prevent transmission - far from it in fact.
There have been numerous studies of masking vs. Covid transmission rates. The best they found was a 12% reduction in transmission with masks vs. unmasked. Most showed less than 10% reduction.

I was about to say the same. If the trip is important or desirable enough for you, masks will not put you off. A few hours with a mask on is not too steep a price to pay for the chance to go somewhere nice or to visit family and friends after over a year in and out of lockdown.

I find wearing a mask uncomfortable and am decidedly reluctant to wear one for 10+ hours. At the moment I have not flown for 2 years and would like a long haul holiday. I would normally seriously consider travelling business for the more comfortable experience but the mask requirement (along with other airline cost saving service reductions carried out in the name of Covid safety) will reduce that comfort to a noticeable degree. As a consequence I am more likely to opt for the cheapest economy fare since I will be uncomfortable anyway so why pay much more to be somewhat less uncomfortable.

I'm sure that over the short term there will be a strong rebound of leisure travel after 18 months of restrictions regardless of masks but after a year or so of 'freedom' flights the whole subject of masks will be more relevant as people get over lockdown and have had their - somewhat diminished - freedom.

Looking into the longer term an ongoing mask requirement (and other Covid related hassles) will tip me towards travelling less and when I do sticking to economy. This is not because I am "scared" of Covid - I'm happy to make my chances and happy to have been vaccinated - but because the increased hassle and discomfort will alter, for me, the value proposition of flying.

I am concerned that in the face of potentially declining receipts (after a rebound year) airlines will double down on Covid theatre, it being easier to introduce restrictions than to remove them. Hopefully we will have airlines pursuing different strategies with some being Covid reassurers and some catering to the Covid relaxed traveler, or seperate masked and mask free cabins. I appreciate that no airline is particularly interested in what I think but I do hope that there can be some relaxation which would stimulate some business.

A "few" hours maybe, but from 4 to 12 hours not for me. I was already suffering after 20 minutes in my supermarket! (luckily that requirement has now been removed). So yes, a quick 50 minute hop to the UK I might persevere with, but long haul, no chance. I guess my medium to long haul flying is over for the foreseeable future. Fortunately I'm on the right side of the channel and within reach of many destinations by car. It'll save me car rental costs too ;)

I should add that I am not against wearing masks where and when appropriate. I just don't consider very long hours in an aircraft seat as appropriate after vaccination and a PCR test prior to travel. I hope that the appropriate authorities and the airlines will rethink some of these measures.

In London for four days recently, and on the tube - which mandates masks for all - I would estimate that almost no young people bothered wearing masks, (I wore mine).

The only other point I would add to my earlier post is that while I don’t like wearing a mask, my wife has no problem with wearing one and can’t understand why it bothers me. Everyone is different.

I think the major issue might be that I don't see any way to make money on long haul without the mask mandate being removed. If we're looking at April-2022 and summer plans mean you have to mask up for long haul, that straight away skews a lot of people from long haul travel. Discretionary, last minute fun traveling doesn't work on a model of ongoing testing and traveling in such an environment. A lot of people who would otherwise spend thousands of pounds with your airline may well spend on a short haul carrier where the hassle is a lot less. So long haul high volume leisure won't bounce back until we normalise as a society. We're all at different stages here, the UK is emerging from the other side, Australia and NZ and in a really bad place where locking down means the plaster is still being pulled of as very few people have had COVID and immunity is almost non existent as a result. Here in the UK, we had a torrid time of vulnerable people dying but at the same time loads of us have been exposed and have a real immunity as well as a proper vaccination program where all the vulnerable who need one or can have one have been jabbed.

If you remember back in 2020, they were saying it would be 2023 before traffic bounced back, I suspect 2022 will be masked up and a realisation you can't make any money in that envirnoment and so as we slowly normalise then pressure should build to remove the mandate.