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Caught on Camera: Family Asked to Deboard Spirit Flight When Parents Didn’t Follow Face Covering Rules

Another family is crying foul against Spirit Airlines, after a flight attendant was caught on video asking them to leave the aircraft over face covering noncompliance. The altercation happened as the child was eating prior to departure, with the flight attendant claiming it was the pilot’s decision to have them removed.

A family of Spirit Airlines flyers are accusing the airline of discrimination, after a flight attendant asked the group to leave when a child was not wearing a face covering prior to departure. The nearly three minutes of video was shared by Twitter account Breaking911, in which the unidentified flyers aboard a flight departing Orlando International Airport (MCO) for Atlantic City International Airport (ACY) accuse the carrier of discrimination. However, the airline says that it wasn’t the child at fault, but rather the parents who violated the federal face covering mandate.

Family Says They Were Targeted, Accuses “One African-American” of Singling Them Out

In the first video shared to social media, a Black Spirit flight attendant approaches the family, asking them to deplane. When the family asked what they did, she informed them that “I didn’t want to do this,” but their face covering non-compliance was the reason for their removal. When they asked for clarification, the flight attendant said: “She’s not wearing a face mask.” When they asked about their lap infant, the flight attendant nodded.

In fact, the child was not wearing a face mask, as she was eating when the attendant approached. Other flyers said they were not uncomfortable with the context, and would vouch that the child would wear a face covering once she were done eating. Yet, the confrontation continued, with the family continually pleading their case and demanding an explanation of what they did wrong.

In a second video shared by Breaking911, the unidentified male flyer – presumably the father of the child in question – accused the airline of conspiracy and discrimination. His outlandish claims included “someone on the phone, before we even got on the plane, was planning this,” and “there was one African-American that was not okay with this.” Ultimately, police were called to the aircraft, and stood by while the situation was resolved.

In a statement to FlyerTalk, a spokesperson for Spirit confirmed the incident took place, but clarified that it wasn’t the child that was in question. Instead, they say the parents were asked on two occasions to wear a face covering, and failed to do so after both requests. The entire flight was deplaned, and a supervisor in Orlando made the decision to allow the family to continue on the flight. Police were called, but did not intervene during the incident. Their behavior ultimately caused a two-hour delay, which required a partial crew change – the airline confirmed that the flight attendant involved was not rotated out because of the confrontation.

Incident is Second Time in One Month Spirit Stood Accused of Removing Children over Face Coverings

This incident is the second time in less than 30 days that the Florida-based ultra-low-cost-carrier stood accused of unfairly removing a child from a flight. In March 2021, another family said they were asked to leave a Spirit flight because their non-verbal Autistic son could not wear a face mask, despite having a doctor’s note confirming the condition. The airline announced a policy change shortly afterwards.

16 Comments
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strickerj April 8, 2021

Half the comments here refer to the mask rule, but isn't there an exemption for children under 2 (which the child would be if she's in the mother's lap rather than her own seat) and while eating (which the child was doing)? I'm not arguing against the mask rule but it seems some of the knee-jerk reactions to perceived noncompliance are ridiculous.

M
mrspilot April 7, 2021

Seriously, people are still arguing about wearing face masks? Stop with all the noise--it's a rule! Don't fly if you can't abide by the rules.

D
DeltaFlyer123 April 7, 2021

I think people have totally gone nuts. If airlines want people to fly again, they need to exercise some common sense.

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Hawkeyefan April 7, 2021

Ah, grab some popcorn. ANOTHER face off onboard due to those ridiculous masks again.

W
WebTraveler April 6, 2021

I do not know Spirit's purchase policy, but others are quite clear before you purchase you MUST wear a mask. If that does not work for you, then you don't get to fly. It's that simple.