To keep a safeguard in public it’s our duty to wear a protective mask, at least for our own sake. But, in spite of having no mandatory law, Airline of America have created their own strict rules, especially for crew members and passengers. One such incident took place on June 17, when an American airline passenger was kicked off from the flight and banned later on.
This is one in the kind of incident that happened regarding not wearing a protective mask in airlines. This matter surfaced the internet when the passenger- Brandon Straka, a media personality took to Twitter.
He shared his experience while traveling from LaGuardia to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, which happened on Wednesday, through an American Airlines flight. After a flight attendant asked Straka whether there was a specific reason he wasn’t wearing a mask, he replied: “Sanity.”
I was just removed from my flight for not wearing a mask. 1st time this has happened. Not a federal law. @AmericanAir staff standing over me telling me it’s THE LAW. So much for “please respect those who can not wear a mask”. When I pointed out this wasn’t a law I was removed.
— Brandon Straka (@BrandonStraka) June 17, 2020
Soon the incident started heating up. Many fellow passengers even recorded the arguments between Straka and the staff members. Eventually, he got removed before the flight took off.
One spokesman from the airlines confirmed about the incident that happened a day before and later on Thursday, the airline said “he’d been banned.”
What Happened Was Really It Was?
Earlier this week, Airlines for America along with a group of major American airlines will be strictly enforcing face-covering policies after reports of travelers not being held to the safety standards. Which might even include banning of the passengers who do not follow airline protocols.
From known sources, the airline said in an email that –
“ They had thoroughly reviewed an incident on June 17 involving one of our customers, Brandon Straka. As a result of this review, Mr. Straka will not be permitted to fly American, as he failed to comply with our stated policy and crewmember instructions.”
The statement continued: “Restricting travel is a step we take very seriously, and it will only occur after a comprehensive review of the facts of an incident. Mr. Straka will be permitted to fly with us once face coverings are no longer required for customers.”
Flight Attendant: Excuse me, sir, do you have a condition that prevents you from wearing a mask?
Me: Yes.
Flight Attendant: May I ask what that is?
Me: Sanity.
— Brandon Straka (@BrandonStraka) June 17, 2020
Meanwhile, Astead Herndon – a politics reporter for the New York Times, posted about an ongoing “mutiny” on a flight he was on. And soon that the users came up connecting the dots and reached out to Herndon to ask whether it was the same person or not.
According to Herdon, after the preflight announcements, and requests from flight attendants, he refused to wear a mask. Other passengers even got vocally annoyed after the interaction got stretched.
absolutely not how the interaction went. Not only did this guy hold up the entire flight he is fabricating how the interaction went with the flight attendants for some twitter likes pic.twitter.com/hsFskL4yQM
— Astead (@AsteadWH) June 17, 2020
Herdon also informed the sources, that he was sitting next to me. Straka wasn’t aware of the fact that it was being recorded and said –
“He wasn’t forcibly removed; he simply left. I was right next to him for the whole interaction. It wasn’t as dramatic as he made it out to be.”
Later on, Airlines said the incident was resolved and Straka was allowed to board a later flight. It’s unclear whether he wore a mask on the later flight or not.
“Mr. Straka stated to our airport team members that he would comply with our policies and was rebooked on a later flight. Our team is reviewing this incident, and we have reached out to Mr. Straka to get more information,” a spokesperson said.
