People are refusing mandatory orders to wear masks on flights, and it’s causing mayhem with other passengers
Last weekend, a passenger was removed from a Spirit Airlines flight for refusing to wear a mask. According to reports and footage posted on Twitter, the passenger removed his face covering after boarding the flight from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The flight ultimately arrived in Fort Lauderdale about an hour and a half late. Spirit Airlines said that the man chose to leave the flight voluntarily, and said that it will continue to enforce the wearing of face masks, according to USA Today.
In June, conservative activist Brandon Straka was removed from an American Airlines flight for refusing to wear a mask. According to a New York Times reporter who happened to also be on the plane, the flight was held up as Straka argued, and other passengers applauded after Straka was removed.
In a testimony provided by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA union (AFA), a Spirit Airlines flight attendant described watching a passenger remove her mask during flight, leaving it off for more than 20 minutes as she stirred a vodka cranberry without drinking it at all.
In another testimony, a flight attendant for an American Airlines subsidiary that operates regional flights as American Eagle, PSA Airlines, described arguing with a passenger who boarded a flight and refused to wear a mask. The passenger told the flight attendant that he “woke up in a free country this morning” and described the coronavirus as a “hoax,” before ultimately being removed from the flight.
Anti-mask activists continue to try and argue against the requirement, with mixed results on different flights. And mask-wearing messengers continue to be irked and delayed by people who refuse.