Robert O’Neill speaks during book signing and lecture at Richard Nixon Library on July 26, 2017, in Yorba Linda, California.
Phillip Pharaoh | Getty Images
A former Marine SEAL who said he killed Osama bin Laden was banned this week by Delta Air Lines for not wearing a face mask on a flight, according to a person familiar with the matter.
U.S. carriers all require passengers to wear masks on board flights, part of their effort to reduce flight concerns during the Covid pandemic and prevent the disease from spreading to passengers and crew. Airlines have taken a hard line stance, telling passengers they will be denied service if they do not wear a mask on board and have even banned some who damage the policy, including high-profile passengers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises people to wear disguise in “public institutions where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.” The CDC says wearing a mask can help stop this person from spreading the disease to others, and warns that some people can transmit the disease even if they have not yet developed symptoms.
Robert O’Neill, who has more than 380,000 Twitter followers, tweeted a selfie aboard a Newark-bound Delta flight on Wednesday, without wearing a mask. Other travelers in the frame wore them. The tweet was later deleted. O’Neill did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
O’Neill, who told The Washington Post in 2014 that he shot and killed the Al-Qaeda leader in the 2011 raid in 2011, is hardly the first person Delta has banned for violating the mask policy . Delta has put about 130 people on its no-fly list before wearing any masks so far.
“Part of every customer’s commitment prior to traveling to Delta is the requirement to recognize our updated travel policy, which includes wearing a mask,” a Delta spokesman said in a statement. “Failure of our mask wearing mandate could result in the loss of the ability to fly Delta in the future.”
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