Delta finishes investigation of Sen. Wicker, who was maskless on recent flight
Delta Air Lines says it has concluded an investigation after a fellow passenger posted a photo on Twitter of U.S. .Sen. Roger Wicker, Republican-Mississippi, on a flight with his mask tucked under his chin while he looked at his cell phone.
The photo was tweeted Friday by Matt Harringer, who works for an advertising and media company in Washington and was on his way to Jackson to work on the campaign of Democrat Mike Espy. Espy is challenging incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Nov. 3 election.
Harringer told the Sun Herald on Saturday morning that Hyde-Smith was seated behind him on the flight and he could not see whether she kept a mask on. Wicker does not have a race in this election.
Harringer said that Wicker, who sat on the opposite aisle one row in front of him, did not wear his mask over his face for at least 90% of the Thursday evening flight, even though the airline announced multiple times before takeoff and during the flight that masks were required.
In a statement emailed to the Sun Herald on Saturday morning, Wicker communications director Rick VanMeter denied Harringer’s account:
“Senator Wicker lowered his face mask to eat a snack and forgot to put it back up. When he was reminded by a flight attendant, he put the mask back up.
“He did not attend any recent events at the White House and has not been in contact with any of the individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 in recent days.”
But three time-stamped photos from Harringer show Wicker on the plane with his mask under his chin at 8:37 p.m., 9:27 p.m. and 9:46 p.m., which Harringer said was before takeoff, during the flight and just before landing.
When Harringer confronted the senator as he got off the plane, Wicker asked why he had not said something sooner, Harringer said.
In response to questions, Delta on Monday emailed the Sun Herald to say: “We have concluded the investigation and found that Sen. Wicker did comply with the flight attendants when he was asked to wear his mask properly.”
An airline communications officer did not respond to a question about whether Delta reached out to Harringer during its investigation.
Harringer’s tweet had more that 21,000 retweets and 67,000 likes Saturday morning.
Delta responded to Harringer’s tweet from a verified account: “Hello Matt. Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our people and our customers. We take our mask policy seriously and are investigating this incident. Kylie”
Mask mandatory on Delta flights
“It’s incredibly upsetting to see people like the senator act like this is no big deal,” Harringer said. “I don’t know if he’s lost anybody he loved, but when you lose somebody you love, you get upset about people not wearing masks.”
Harringer said he lost a close friend, Alison Schwartz, to COVID-19. The death of the People magazine staffer made national news.
Masks are mandatory except when eating or drinking on Delta flights, according to the airline’s website. CNN reported in August that Delta had banned almost 250 passengers for failing to wear masks.
The Delta flight came just before President Donald Trump, now hospitalized, said early Friday on Twitter that he and first lady Melania Trump had tested COVID-19 positive. Since then, former top White House advisor Kellye Ann Conway, Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien and three Republican senators have revealed positive COVID-19 tests.
Passenger confronted senator
Harringer said he decided to tweet the photo of Wicker only after the positive test results were announced for the first two Republican senators.
“I think the people on the plane, the woman in front of him, me, who was sitting 5 feet away from him, deserve to know his status,” Harringer said.
He said that he heard the woman in front of Wicker identify herself as a veteran as she talked to a fellow passenger after boarding the flight. Harringer said he told the woman as they prepared to disembark that Wicker had been sitting behind her with his mask off.
He said the veteran looked shocked.
Harringer said he took the photo of Wicker after sitting down and realizing who the senator was:
“That’s when I said, “ ‘This isn’t right.’ If it were anybody else it would be one thing, it would be disappointing, but a U.S. senator who’s been around a bunch of senators who have tested positive, it’s unacceptable.”
This story was originally published October 3, 2020 at 12:36 PM.
