Thong Doesn’t Fly as Face Mask Aboard United
Joe Cortez December 16, 2021
Fort Meyers, Florida NBC affiliate WBBM-TV reports the flyer received a ban aboard the Chicago-based carrier for attempting the stunt on a flight out of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL).
“It’s All Nonsense…The Whole Thing is Theater”
According to Jenne’s account, he was scheduled to fly aboard a United flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, He claims he’s used his face covering of choice – a set of skimpy red underwear – on prior trips.
However, aboard this particular United flight, flight attendants were not amused by what he called an act of protest. Prior to takeoff, Jenne says he was asked to leave the flight and was met by Broward County Sherriff’s deputies at the gate.
Once he was deboarded, additional resources from the Transportation Security Administration were summoned to deal with Jenne’s situation. The flyer was ultimately given a refund, along with a ban from flying United until further notice.
Jenne told WBBM that his act was a protest of the Federal Face Covering Mandate, claiming that “It’s all nonsense.” He claims he’s flown several other carriers wearing the underwear as a mask without incident, and “The whole thing is theater,” despite several studies backing the use of face coverings as an effective method of preventing the spread of the virus causing COVID-19.
In a statement, a United spokesperson said: “The customer clearly wasn’t in compliance with the federal mask mandate and we appreciate that our team addressed the issue on the ground prior to takeoff, avoiding any potential disruptions on the air.”
Despite being removed from the flight, Jenne said he intended to complete his trip on Spirit Airlines.
Face Coverings Remain Divisive Among Flyers and Executives
The continued use of face coverings through at least March 2022 remains a difficult topic among travelers and executives. The latest data from the Federal Aviation Administration shows the agency has received over 4,000 reports of flyers refusing to wear face coverings, while at least two aviation executives have stated to Congress that they support dropping the face covering rules.
Anyone else notice the shirt this moron was wearing?
Post pandemic, perhaps he'd continue to wear the thong as a kind of warning label for the rest of the world.
This Jenne isn't a smart person in the least - and those that walked off the flight deserved to lose their ticket status and pay extra to change flights as part of their "protest". I'm just really tired of entitled folks that don't know more than a 2nd grader - because even 2nd graders figure out how to follow rules if they want to get something/go somewhere. But that's too much for "special" people like Jenne.
Just another (_*_)
I wasn't even aware of this rule except on UK carriers. Is it a US rule too?