Ten adults and 10 children on an American Airlines flight from Salt Lake City to Dallas were asked to deplane after they were reportedly non-compliant with the airline’s mask requirement.
According to a report in the New York Post, the group en route to Dallas was boarding the plane and heading to their seats in the back when a mask slipped below one passenger’s nose and another passenger complained.
Family member Scott Wilson, told KSL-TV in Salt Lake City that it was only for a second and the problem was corrected. However, a gate agent asked the entire group to depart the aircraft.
“I didn’t really see who it was but somebody said, ‘Hey, you know, keep your mask up,’” Wilson told the station. “I dropped everything and moved it up, picked up my stuff and made our way to the back of the plane.”
“He said, ‘Well, they want you to leave the plane,’” Wilson told the television station. “I said, ‘What, they want us to get off the plane? Can we talk? Can we have a conversation?’ Nobody has even really talked to us.”
Wilson noted that several other passengers thought the family was being treated unfairly and that the person who reported their transgression was also harassing other passengers.
“There was actually a couple of families around us that stood up and was like, ‘This is wrong, that guy is being a jerk.’ He was yelling at other people as they came on, too, and he was already mad at these guys. They didn’t do anything,” said Wilson.
American Airlines, for its part, stuck by its mask mandate.
In a statement to KSL, the airline said the family members “were reported to be noncompliant with our mandatory face-covering policy, which requires face coverings be worn properly over the nose and mouth. Per procedure, the customers involved were asked to exit the aircraft before departure and the flight departed for DFW shortly after.
“American, like other U.S. airlines, began requiring customers to wear a face-covering while onboard aircraft beginning May 11. We have since strengthened our policy to require face coverings be worn at airports and onboard, and announced in June that we may deny future travel for customers who refuse to wear a face-covering for the duration of this requirement.”
The family was rebooked on other flights on American, United and Delta and made it to Hawaii, their final destination, that same day.
Airlines have banned over 2,500 passengers for refusing to comply and wear a face mask.
