Orlando woman taken off flight
2-year-old daughter wouldn’t wear mask
An Orlando mother said she felt humiliated when Southwest Airlines staff forced her off a flight after her flustered 2-year-old daughter resisted wearing a face mask, a problem that has led to several recent clashes between airline workers and parents traveling with children.
Tiffani Jett had boarded the plane on Sept. 13 with her 1- and 2-year-old daughters for a flight from Nashville to Orlando when her older daughter grew cranky and didn’t want to wear her face mask.
“How many 2-year-olds do you know like to wear a face mask?” Jett said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel.
Southwest’s COVID-19 guidelines require that passengers 2 and older wear a mask at all times during travel.
Though there is no Federal Aviation Administration requirement for passengers on flights to wear a mask, all major U.S. airlines have mask rules. Most rely on guidance from the CDC, which recommends face coverings in public places for people 2 and older.
In August, Southwest refused to transport a Texas family when a 3-year-old with autism, who “became upset because he does not like to have his face touched,” wouldn’t wear his mask, according to the Associated Press.
A similar incident involving a 2-year-old resulted in JetBlue Airways removing a woman and her six children from a plane in Orlando, leaving the Brooklyn family
stranded, the New York Daily News reported.
Jett said the first indication that her family might be kicked off came when a flight attendant whispered to her that another attendant wanted to remove them. The attendant who delivered the warning advised Jett to hold her daughter’s mask in her hand to make clear the girl had one, she said.
Shortly after, a supervisor approached Jett and told her to disembark the plane, she said. She said she replied that she and her family had done nothing wrong. Soon, other passengers were chanting “let her fly,” Jett said.
A supervisor made everyone exit the plane after another passenger unsuccessfully tried to calm down Jett’s daughter with a peppermint candy, she said.
But Jett’s troubles didn’t stop once she returned to the airport concourse. She said she found her bags soaked from the rain when
she retrieved them from baggage claim. She called customer service and filed complaints, she said.
Southwest said in a statement that the company does not speak about specific incidents, but the mask policy stems from CDC guidelines.
“If a Customer is unable to wear a face covering for any reason, Southwest regrets that we are unable to transport the individual. In those cases, we will issue a full refund and hope to welcome the Customer onboard in the future, if public health guidance re
garding face coverings changes,” Southwest spokesman Brian Parrish said.
CDC data, as of early August, shows children up to age 17 consist of 22% of the U.S. population and make up 7.3% of all confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country.
“The true incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children is not known due to lack of widespread testing and the prioritization of testing for adults and those with severe illness,” according to the CDC.
Jett and her family experienced no problems on their new flight the same day, during which her daughter wore her mask off-and-on before falling asleep wearing it, she said. But she wants Southwest to fire the flight attendant she was told wanted to kick her off the plane and the supervisor who actually did.
Jett, who is Black, also wants the company to require diversity training for its employees.
“I do feel like it may have been racially motivated,” Jett said. “I feel like it was a personal attack.”
In a direct response to Jett about her complaints, Southwest Vice President of Customer Relations Jim Ruppel claimed no one in her family wore a mask. Jett insists that’s wrong and that she wore a mask during the entire episode.
Jett filed a follow-up complaint, which received a more in-depth response from customer relations executive Meg Mikels.
“We know this isn’t an ideal situation for anyone, and we recognize wearing a mask can be difficult for some of our youngest Passengers; however, to support the well-being of our Customers and Employees, we are requiring all Customers to comply with this policy,” Mikels said. “I understand there is usually more than one side to a story and recognize that your description of this situation differs from our Employees’ accounts of what occurred.”
Jett and her husband, Dr. Swannie Jett, who previously served as the director of the Florida Department of Health in Seminole County and still works as a public health official, said
they realize the importance of wearing face masks and are not against wearing them. He was not traveling with his wife and daughters when the incident occurred.
Swannie Jett noted that children account for a small percentage of known COVID-19 cases and said airlines should be more strict about social distancing measures on planes. Tiffani Jett said the plane was crowded with passengers, including people sitting in the middle seats.
Southwest’s guidelines say that middle seats will not be occupied through Nov. 30.
“I think people have to use common sense, and they have to show empathy to families,” Swannie Jett said. “If they want people to continue to fly, they need to look at their policies in terms of overselling seats as well to create that proper distance.”