Frontier Airlines to Mandate Temperature Screening For All Passengers

Frontier Airlines said on Thursday it would begin temperature screenings for all passengers and crew members on June 1 and bar anyone with a temperature at or exceeding 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit (38 C).

The move, in what Frontier said was the first among major U.S. airlines, followed the industry mandating facial coverings for all passengers and heightened cleaning to address coronavirus concerns and a massive air travel decline.

Frontier customers will be screened via touchless thermometers prior to boarding. If a reading is at or exceeds 100.4 F, customers will be given time to rest and potentially receive a second check, the company said, adding it would work with any customer with an elevated temperature to rebook travel for a later date.

Major U.S. airlines are taking measures to ensure safe flights by making face coverings mandatory for employees, while also providing masks for passengers who do not have their own.

The requirements are being made by airlines on an individual basis and will be included in the contracts of carriage and explained on their websites. They are not mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration, which has said that it only has the authority to regulate matters that are directly tied to air safety.

Many airlines are also turning their focus to other measures to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus during air travel.

United Airlines Holdings Inc, for example, has said it has purchased hundreds of hospital-type electrostatic fogging machines that it will start using in June to decontaminate airplane cabin surfaces and crevices before every flight.