Sen. Reinbold mixes it up with Alaska Airlines over onboard mask policy

By
Suzanne Downing
-
60

State Sen. Lora Reinbold was noncompliant with her face mask on a recent Alaska Airlines flight, and took her time complying with the airlines’ mask mandate, which brought her the attention of not one, but three flight attendants. The photo she took of them trying to get her to comply says a thousand words.

Reinbold was not amused.

“Mask bullies in full force on Alaskans Airlines- all because a scaredy cat Karen whined loudly and was a Tattle tail when I took my dumb worthless suffocating mask off, a bit longer than she wanted, for my food and drink. The flight attendants in Portland are overbearing. Sadly Alaska airlines is part of mask tyranny and not providing proof required in law they help stop the spread (I can show they cause health problems). I asked for proof masks helped they couldn’t provide and handed me a Alaska Airlines mask and asked if I’d put one on top of my other mask I said it was hard to breath and they didn’t care. I honestly hope they get sued for being ridiculous! They are wrongly giving medical advise without a medical license, against the advise of doctors, and should be sued for forcing medical advise without a license- it’s simply wrong and it will hurt their bottom kind!” Reinbold wrote on Facebook.

Alaska Airlines has a “yellow card” policy that it uses to blacklist passengers who do not comply with the mask mandate. Will Reinbold be prevented from boarding a jet for Juneau in January for the start of the legislative session? Doubtful.

Reinbold posted her experience with the airline mask mandate on Facebook and received a mix of responses — some supportive, some not-so-supportive, and one calling her a “snowflake.”

60 COMMENTS

  2. This State Senator is not exempt from Alaska Airlines Covid-19 Policy. Alaska Airlines clearly stated all passengers must wear masks and no medical exemptions. Violating this Policy requires a yellow card and if done a second time, A total ban from all future Alaska Airlines flights. The Senator can take the State ferry from Seward to Juneau and back to Seward if she continually violates flight policy. No exemptions for this prima donna state legislator. However, if Alaska Airlines relents and allows this idiot, a Legislator thrown out of Republican Majority, then the Mask Policy has no penalty? Throw the good Senator off the Plane next time. Rules are Rules, whether she cry-babies or not.

  3. As many wimpy wearers of worthless masks as I see here in Alaska, Alaska Airlines is acting as the that bunch and associated fear-mongers want it to act.

    Bring back Wein. Betcha the old Wienie bird didn’t wear no steenking mask.

    I still wonder on what basis any official or official-wannabe has the authority for one to wear a mask. Too many seem to just accept what our current crop of “leaders” say. The population of the state has become gutless in preserving its rights.

  4. It actually was an Anchorage Based Crew who follow the directives of the company.

    Lora, again, believes she is above the law and deserves any shaming she gets. If she believes that masks are not necessary then she should reach out to Alaska Airlines and take the issue up with their leadership team instead of being insubordinate to workers on the front line who have face a multitude of issues since the beginning of this.

    • “…above the law…” Which Alaska statute, exactly? The “orders” of health officials are marketed by everyone from the CDC to the Governor to Anchorage City Council as being “urged”, “recommended”, and so forth. The “orders” need to have some basis in fact that, 1) the measures actually stop/slow the virus, and 2) have actual data to back them up, not just a feeling that people with power can assume additional authority over the general population. Over 70% of those testing positive nationwide are reporting they are wearing their mask consistently – and they still got sick. In NYC, over 60% of those testing positive report they were staying at home, working from home, and social distancing – they got sick at home. Let that sink in.

      Following feelings provides only a false sense of security, not protection. And, it’s a virus. It spreads. That’s what viruses do until enough people have developed an immunity to it or we get a vaccine. We don’t even have an aids vaccine – it’s been 40 years. We don’t have a true flu vaccine – it mutates so quickly that new versions of the vaccines are developed twice a year[1], so the vaccine is protection against previous strains of the disease, to future ones. Protecting those with underlying medical conditions is prudent. Locking up healthy people is tyranny.

      cdc.gov/flu/prevent/vaccine-selection.htm

    • Right on, Citizen!
      .
      Customers must leave rights and counterrevolutionary thoughs at the cabin door!
      .
      Lora is very lucky that workers chose not to enforce the Black Lives Matter apparel code approved by the Alaska Peoples Airline leadership team.

    • Roger that. AK Airlines has been most explicit re: their policy on masks. Find an alternative way to go to PDX if you can’t follow the rules

      • All airlines have this same directive.. So it wouldn’t matter what airlines you are flying.. when you’re flying outside, the airlines has put in one of the best air filtering systems..

        It’s just ironic…I just saw a rerun of the original movie “Diary of Ann Frank” this past week.. How impatient we people can be!! They had to endure for 2++ yrs.

        We have become so impatient..by the way, I hate wearing masks too… But if I need to travel and get anywhere…wearing masks right now is the law.. I’m sure it is not easy for the airlines to enforce this either, I’m sure it isn’t in their likening. It all comes down from the top… Dept of Transportation, not airlines..

    • No, the workers aren’t showing integrity by letting Karens dictate their behavior. Doing something unethical because you were told to do it isn’t a good excuse.

      • Who is the “Karen” here? The flight team for trying to protect themselves from God knows how many souls they host a day or the Senator who is advocating for 1st Amendment Protection? Both women deserve their say. When looking at Jewish oppression, Lora is right, if we conform to anarchy it will be the end of freedom for the citizen. But if we pursue this shaming through “Karenizing” we run the risk of degrading social advocacy even more. Some of us remember Iran before socialism and oppression hit. Let Lora beat her drum and stop using “Karen” as an oppressive term. This supposed aristocracy goes both ways, the rule makers (the attendant),and the advocates for social justice ae: Reinbold. Reinbold, no one is going to make it easy. Now you know how the black men and women feel.

  5. Well, if she doesn’t like AkAir’s mask policy, then maybe she shouldn’t spend her money with them. I’m pretty sure that’s how the free enterprise system is supposed to work.

  6. If I had to bet, I would say Lora brought to attention to herself by the way she was acting. It may have even been intentional. This activated the Commie Karen.
    Alaska Airlines has made it clear time after time they have no issue allowing their staff to push the envelope in mask policing, regardless if the traveler is actually on an aircraft. Alaska Airlines is promoting an aggressive and confrontational approach to the un-masked, and have no clue of how to properly train their staff on how to deescalate these situations, and put the Commie Karen’s in a muzzle and a straight jacket for the ride, for her own safety of course.
    Let this be a warning to those who think Lora should be handed to keys to the Governor’s Office in Alaska. If she can’t handle a little stress like this without throwing a child like tantrum, what do you think is going to happen when she faces a real challenge in a leadership position?
    I’m no longer a fan of Dunleavy and will never support him again, so lets hope a real leader emerges soon so we can get some sanity and professionalism back in the Governor’s Office.

    • Do you expect your woman to walk five feet behind you too? It was less than 100 years ago where citizens were cained for advocationing for the abolition of slavery.

      Jeez, if I were a man, Lora would be the perfect wife, strong and vocal. Mandating masks is one thing, but when someone can’t breath in a stiffling hot, over-crowded airplane, that’s another. Why don’t we just let the hosts put their heels on her throat, like Floyd, and call TSA? Were the fans on in the passenger compartment? No one asks these questions, they just want to berate women of position for their own political agenda. Lora, you go ahead and speak your mind, if I wanted a communist, socialist, dictatorship and someone who would kiss everyone’s keister I would have voted the other way!

  7. Does the elected government representative walk into other private businesses like stores or bars and openly flaunt their requirements? Perhaps she thinks since she is an elected government representative she is above such things? Conservatives understand that private businesses have rights to refuse service, grandstanders clearly do not.
    .
    Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like the elected government representative is trying to wrongly give medical advise without a medical license and against the advise of doctors, and using her position as an elected government representative to do so.

    • Frank, maybe you would be more comfortable back in the comments sections of the online Anchorage Daily Pravda, where mindless groupthink is encouraged and enforced, dissent is increasingly not tolerated, and active censorship and suppression of all non-Establishment orthodoxy is rigidly pursued.

  9. How is it any company especially Alaska Airlines, which is the only out-of-state carrier in Fairbanks can mandate mask on an individual with a medical condition that prevents them from wearing a mask.
    Why should those medical exempt jeopardize their health safety for others?

  10. Alaska has made the air crews into attack dogs over this issue. They care not a bit about your health issues. They have taken the position that if you don’t like it go somewhere else
    I am am a MVP gold that usually fliess first class and got thrown off a flight in Seattle and had to get another flight home. They banned me from flying with them and thanked me for my loyalty. It’s a great business plan.

  11. I lost interest flying on 2004 when Alaska Air upgraded its TSA police force because of 9/11/01. I think this was the crazy socialists major frontal freedom assualt on Americans, at least in my younger life. Sadly, then Americans complied just as Americans are complying with the second major freedom assualt using mask mandates. Agian sadly Americans are complying. They will sadly comply until civil war breaks out when even the compliant americans had enough freedom assualts.
    I grew up during Alaska Air last flight attendant round when the crew all had impeccable hospitality skills. There is nothing hospitable with a small business even one as big as Alaska Airlines or Costco forcibly stationing its employees to enforce mask mandates on its customers. Thats like hostess calling out her house guest dont slurp at the table, chew with your mouth closed, don’t sit on that couch i just cleaned it or you are too fat and will flatten the cushions. Alaska Air used to have flight attendents with imbeccable hospitality, this doesn’t do well for improving the small/big business customer image when its already hurting.

    More power to all the “Lori Reinbolds” if there were more people around like me who will run to their defense, it’ll remind all those compliant just what freedom we are losing what we been losing since 2002. These events always happen when there are people like me not around. A bully can pick on one person but when a second, third, fourth, person join and support the bully, the bully has no other choice except slink away with their head down.

    • Yes, I remember too when AK Airlines set the standard for hospitality, but now they are like dealing with brownshirts.
      My son had to fly with them a couple of months ago on the redeye; they constantly woke him up (by poking him!) the entire trip because as he slept, the mask would become less than perfectly adjusted.
      He is an MVP flier and I was too for over 20 years, but if there was ANY alternative, not one of us would have anything to do with them ever again.
      The masks are ridiculous, but the bullying is even worse.
      I wish there were more people like you, Jen (and I would have been right beside you!) but I’m afraid Alaska has become a land of sheep.

    • I completely agree with both you, and Senator Reinbold. You are absolutely right, it began with Congress using the TSA to violate our Fourth Amendment rights. Now it includes State and local governments violating our the First, Fifth, and Fourteenth Amendments rights.

      Unless we stand up for our constitutionally protected rights now, there may be nothing left to stand up for in our very near future.

  12. People who think and reason for themselves rock the boat quite often, but this world would be worse off without them.
    From my viewpoint, Lora annoys her fellow legislators whenever they try to gang up on her. I’m willing to give her a lot of slack as our legislators often need to be annoyed.
    So far, she’s the only legislator I’ve ever donated cash to.

  13. Luckily, airlines don’t seem to be a source of spread due to their mitigation plan, including masks and keeping the middle seat empty (in Alaska’s case). Alaska Airlines, like all companies, is trying to turn a profit in difficult times and this is their solution. It is reasonable and it helps keep Alaska connected to the lower 48. I am sorry, but this seems like someone who is absorbed in a lot of drama right now where every interaction is an opportunity for a political stunt (in this case via Facebook). There is WAY too much of that on both sides right now.

    • My wife and I recently flew (October-November 2020) ANC-ADQ-ANC on Alaska Air and we were packed into the airplane like canned sardines. No social distance, all middle seats full and not one empty seat on the airplane in both directions. Alaska will pack their airplanes, come down on the customer hard if you don’t comply with the mask routine, and tell you and all three people in your row to accept it or get off the airplane and find your own way home. Alaska does not follow a mitigation plan if they can pack the airplane. Safety is a talking point for Alaska Air.

  14. Boring behavior by Reinbold. I admire her legislative positions, but I believe her behavior in this matter is unacceptable. The airlines have rules. Board their airplane and you have tacitly accepted those rules. If one does not like those rules then find another means of transportation. The situation is analogous to what I told my teenage daughter – my house my rules.

  15. I certainly enjoy the spirit and spunk of Lora Reinbold even though I often think it is displayed in the wrong places against the wrong issues and this is another of those cases. I do not like to ware the mask either but have one that is home made and does the face covering without any ‘suffocating’ effects, and Lora surely should know better than most that those following the rules are not those making the rules and her vain attempt to make them break their rules so she could break them was the improper thing to do. Her energy would be better served with a letter to Alaska Airlines management and hopefully it will be written respectfully and get some results….

  16. Alaska Airlines and their idiotic policy have been the reason I do not fly to do work anymore. If I have to conform to some BS narrative to make a living, I will not be providing those services anymore.

  17. Recently, I flew out of Atlanta on AK Airlines. There were 5 “travelers of color” before me at the check-in counter. One of them was maskless and effing the check-in lady time and time again. He was asking where was his ticket. This went on for about 5 minutes while the person was swearing loudly . I wondered why security was not called.
    Then I noticed that this person was on my plane. He was not wearing a mask as he stood at the aircraft door talking to the flight attendant for about 3 minutes. The flight attendant said nothing. Finally, his group of 5 filed down the aisle (2 of them were maskless)..
    It seemed to me that there was a complete double standard and that the counter clerk and the flight attendants were afraid to confront the “travelers of color”.
    I believe they may have been headed to Seattle and could have been part of the Antifa/BLM crew.

    • What color were they not that it matters? I’ve never seen any white people. I’ve seen some pink people, and some beige people I even saw me a black man one time, I mean coal black. I just wonder what people mean when they say people of color because everybody’s some color.

      • ” I just wonder what people mean when they say people of color because everybody’s some color.”

        Except we old white men. If you ( aka Elizabeth Warren) feel oppressed by us, then you’re a person of color, which accords you a special status.

      • There’s no such color as black, by definition it’s the absence of color, and white, is the equal measure of each primary color.
        –
        Therefore, by definition, we’re all people of color. None actually white, definitely none black.
        –
        Merely following the science here people.

  19. I’ve been finished, “kaput!” with Alaska Airlines ever since they removed the medical exemption. I had already taken my kids down to TX to visit their grandparents, and on the day I was supposed to return to bring my kids home, they removed the medical exemption. I complied with their mandate within the waiting area and on the plane, but that didn’t stop some idiot busy body from harassing me and my children all the through the airport for not wearing it. She hounded me and my children from Security in DFW all the way to wheels down in the Portland Airport! Medical exemptions are allowed in Texas. Not one single gate agent or security guard said a word to us for not wearing a mask. I could have had her removed from the Airport and stopped from flying because of her harassment. AK Air is enabling the tiny-hearted bullies of the world to behave in this manner. I will not spend my money with them until this policy is lifted. Period.

  20. Time to put your rights on a higher shelf, dear Senator, and focus more on your duty. You should be familiar with that term.

    Your behavior here constitutes nothing more than grandstanding for fellow Conservatives in order to cement your chances of reelection, and thereby retaining your hold on that ultimate drug – political power.

    So wear your mask and stop being such a snowflake. As Dear Leader so correctly put it, “What have you got to lose?”.

  21. When she bought her ticket she agreed to the contract of carriage. That means in return for the airline taking her where she wanted to go she agreed to bide by their rules. Their rules include wearing a mask. They are right in enforcing the rules and would be right to blacklist her from future flights.

  22. Fly a different airline. Isn’t that the point of capitalism? She has a choice. If a restaurant required masks you would wear one. If a store required masks you would wear one. Don’t buy their product if you don’t agree with their policy.

  23. Wow, love all of these comments !!!! Same story as usual, the political class always think they are exempt from laws and policies that the rest of us are told to abide by . . . . . . .

  24. I am the last person to think large government is good for Alaska or America. However, there is some evidence that wearing a mask might protect someone else from me. I can’t judge the health of everyone I meet, nor if there is a family member at home with cancer or severe health issues. My feeling is that if both I and my neighbors wear a mask then we might stop some of the spread. I would prefer that over shutting down the businesses who employ so many in our communities. It’s a small effort on my part to wear a mask in public when shopping or dining. It isn’t about the government telling me what to do–it’s the right thing to do for my neighbors.

  25. Alaska Airlines is in the business of promoting safe transportation. Masking may be physically beneficial, so it benefits their reputation to at least pretend they’re being responsible.
    Also, they received Federal covid funds to compensate for their reduced customer load. Part of the contract was probably to play the masking game (reducing potential transmission).

  26. Senator Reinbold is an elected member of a representative body. As a member if that body, she has the ability and the responsibility to vote on legislation that may be enacted into law. Outside of that setting, her “power” is just the same as any of the rest of us. She does not run any government agency or program. She has next to nothing to do with the operation of the airline. The airline is subject to rules promulgated by the Federal Aviation Administration, not the State of Alaska. I do not like masks. Senator Reinbold will have to comply with the rules, just like the rest of us. In so doing, she will demonstrate that she understands that serving as a legislator is a privilege, not some kind of a power trip.

  27. Lora Reinbold needs a good spokesperson, some better suited to handle her PR. She came off terrible on Mike Porcaro’s show today. Maybe hire Mike, instead of insulting him on his own show!

  29. There is no law just a company policy. They are gambling that more people want the masks (sheep) or don’t want to stand up for their rights (sheep in wolf’s clothing). I travelled once and wore a stupid buff (which are likely worse than not wearing a mask). Still hated it and won’t travel again until this “airline requirement” goes away.

  30. Alaska Airlines is just tying to protect its passengers and crew from an easily spread and kinda dangerous virus. Stay off the plane if you don’t like their rules. No one likes the stupid mask requirements. Some of us are just less childish about it.

    • You and everyone else also threaten my safety every time I drive. Therefore, I demand that you and everyone else stay off the road every time I need to drive anywhere.

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