POLITICS JUNE 26, 2020 / 7:39 PM / UPDATED 19 HOURS AGO

White House does not commit to temperature checks in meeting with U.S. airlines

David Shepardson, Tracy Rucinski
3 MIN READ

WASHINGTON/CHICAGO (Reuters) - Top U.S. airline executives met on Friday with Vice President Mike Pence and other senior administration officials but did not come away with any commitments from the White House on mandating temperature checks for airline passengers.

Pence met with the chief executives of United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, JetBlue Airways and the president of Southwest Airlines at the White House alongside Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) director Mark Redfield, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and other officials.

Airlines want the U.S. government to administer temperature checks to all passengers in a bid to reassure the public.

The Trump administration is open to the idea of having the Transportation Security Administration conduct the tests, but there are still many unanswered questions, including what would happen to passengers who had high fevers and were denied boarding and how to pay for the screening.

Major airlines on Thursday said they would refund air fares to passengers denied boarding if the government conducted tests.

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