JetBlue Bans Couple After Altercation Over Masks

Male passenger was seen grabbing a flight attendant
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 14, 2021 12:43 PM CDT

JetBlue says it's banned a man and woman who refused to wear masks on a flight last week, after the man got physical with a flight attendant in an incident captured in a viral video. It begins with the maskless man yelling and grabbing the arm of a male flight attendant who's trying to get him to leave the aircraft, which was to fly from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to San Diego, Calif. on Wednesday. The man claimed to have pulled his face mask up over his nose "the second" he was asked. "You gave me one f---ing warning," he said. The video next shows a woman walking up the aisle, then pulling down her mask to speak to another passenger.

"They're kicking us off and I don't know why," she said, before claiming that her 5-year-old son's face mask "fell off his face" and was fixed, but "it wasn't good enough for them." "Now we're being kicked off. Let it go viral," she went on, per the Miami Herald. "We're going to sue. Everyone I know is an attorney." JetBlue said the pair were asked "multiple times but would not comply with the federal mask mandate" and have been banned from flying with JetBlue in the future, per Fox News. "Eventually the customers were asked to leave the aircraft at which time one customer became verbally and physically aggressive toward crewmembers before eventually exiting the aircraft," JetBlue added.

The remaining passengers, who'd gasped as the man grabbed the flight attendant's arm, applauded as the couple finally exited, the outlet reported. In its coverage, PennLive notes "angry airline passenger stories seem to pop up every day" now. The Federal Aviation Administration said it received 3,889 reports of unruly passengers, including 2,867 reports of passengers refusing to comply with the federal mask mandate, from Jan. 1 through mid-August. (The Transportation Security Administration just doubled the minimum fine for passengers who refuse to wear a face mask.)

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