An elderly man was reportedly forced off a plane after complaining that a flight attendant was not wearing a face mask properly.
The elderly passenger was taken off the Allegiant Air flight on Monday for allegedly "repeatedly disrupting the pre-flight safety briefing", the airline said.
The incident on the plane at Punta Gorda, Florida, saw the man escorted off the plane after appearing to complain an attendant had lowered their mask to give the pre-flight safety demonstration.
Several other passengers appear to be unhappy with how the man is treated, as grumbles can be heard in the video as he leaves the aircraft.
The incident was captured in multiple clips, with one recording shared on social media hearing a passenger say "You're supposed to be wearing a f***ing mask to begin with."
The man being escorted off the plane then appears to ask his fellow passengers: "Why don't you all get off with me?"
A flight attendant - possibly a different one - then threatens to call the police to come and deal with him if he refused to get off the plane.
Allegiant Air told Newsweek: "The passenger was removed for repeatedly disrupting the pre-flight safety briefing which includes reiteration of our inflight face-covering policy."
They added that "the flight attendant giving the safety briefing lowered their mask for speaking into the PA so the briefing could be understood."
According to the airline, other passengers had complained they could not hear the attendant's flight-safety announcements, so they lowered their mask.
What followed, they allege, was "disruptive" behaviour by the man which forced the attendant to take action before they then immediately replaced their face mask after the demonstration was over.
Allegiant Air's website states: "All crew members are required to wear a face covering at all times and gloves during inflight service."
The videos were initially shared on Twitter, and sparked a small burst of tweets from other passengers claiming they witnessed other such incidents on Allegiant flights.
Several users claimed flight attendants were not correctly wearing masks correctly, with the coverings not covering their noses during flights.
One wrote: "@Allegiant How am I supposed to feel safe flying when my chatty Kathy flight attendant isn’t even wearing her mask properly and keeps taking it off?!? Safety first or last...?"
Allegiant has been named one of the Top 10 safest airlines to travel with during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Travel Pulse.
