From Miami to London
Airman turns halfway – because a woman refuses to wear a mask
An American Airlines plane had to turn halfway (symbol image)
© Daniel Slim / AFP
Wearing a mask on planes has been mandatory since the pandemic began. Now an American Airlines plane had to make a U-turn because a passenger didn’t want to stick to it.
Actually, the passengers on board the AAL38 flight should go from Miami to London on Wednesday evening. But after half an hour, the American Airlines plane had to turn back because a passenger did not want to comply with the obligation to wear a face mask. As the US airline announced, the plane returned to Miami because “a disruptive customer refused to wear the mandatory mask”.
At the airport, the police were already waiting for the mask refuser. The passenger was escorted off board without incident, a police officer told the US broadcaster CNN. However, the woman, believed to be in her 40s, was not arrested. In addition to 129 passengers, 14 crew members were on board the Boeing 777.
American Airlines: Mask refusers get a flight ban
Upon landing, American Airlines said the passenger in question had been placed on a list of people no longer allowed to fly with the airline pending further investigation into the incident. Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, there has been a strict obligation to wear masks on board aircraft. The US aviation authority FAA had already imposed a zero-tolerance policy on mask refusers last January.
The incident joins the growing list of violations of corona measures on airplanes. Flight attendants repeatedly report verbal and physical abuse by travelers who refuse to follow the rule. In October 2021 A passenger has been accused of smacking an American Airlines flight attendant on the nose after a mask argument, causing her a concussion. The airline’s chief executive called the violent altercation on the flight from New York to California “one of the worst incidents we’ve ever seen.”
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Since the beginning of the year, the FAA has already more than 150 reports received about unruly passengers – including more than half related to face masks. Last year there were almost 6,000 reports of argumentative passengers, 4,290 of them mask disputes.
Sources: “New York Times“, CNNwith AFP material