A mum has claimed her family were kicked off an American Airlines flight after her two-year-old son wouldn’t keep his face mask on.
Angela Artis, 31, was travelling back to Charlotte, in the US, with husband Darien and son Mason when they were forced off the plane at Heathrow where they were making a connection.
Their holiday to Santorini, in Greece, where the couple were renewing their wedding vows, turned sour on the return via Heathrow.
After being removed from the American Airlines flight 733 last Sunday, the airline provided overnight accommodation and rebooked the Artis family onto the following day’s flight.
Mrs Artis claimed it was impossible to keep a mask on a two-year-old and that there was a baby near them that wasn’t forced to wear a face covering.
She said having got on board the plane initially everything was fine with the flight crew and her son was even given a lollipop.
It turned sour, she claimed, when another flight attendant came over.
She told the Metro : “But about 25 minutes before the flight was due to take off another attendant came over and pointed a finger at my baby. She said 'he needs to put a mask on or he’s got to go” in a very rude way."
Mrs Artis said that her heart dropped as she had no idea it was a strict policy because she claimed that she had been able to travel before without him wearing a mask.
Mrs Artis added that other flight crew in the past have accepted it is not feasible to keep the mask on a two-year-old “for more than five minutes”.
She said: "We had tried to put it on him for the first few minutes but he just couldn’t keep it on, it’s difficult for a baby to even physically breathe with a mask on."
She said that the plane then taxied back to the terminal and the family was forced to get off the plan with an announcement that it was due to a child not wearing a mask.
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Transportation Security Administration directives mean that American Airlines requires passengers aged two and older to wear face coverings at all times while indoors at airports and onboard.
In a statement, the airline said: "On Oct. 17, American Airlines flight 733 returned to the gate prior to departure from London Heathrow to deplane a party failing to comply with the face mask requirement.
"After agreeing to comply with the face mask requirement, all individuals were rebooked for travel on the next flight to Charlotte the following day.
"We are reviewing this incident and a member of our team has reached out to the customers to learn more about what took place."
The Mirror has contacted American Airlines for further comment.
