A 13-year-old boy with Tourette’s syndrome was marched out of an airport by armed police while sobbing after he was blocked from boarding a flight for shouting the word “bomb”.
British Airways (BA) refused Mason Entwistle and his family access to their Alicante-bound flight at the gate at Gatwick Airport on Saturday due to safety risks.
Mason’s father said that the “horrendous” ordeal left his son sobbing as his family, from Harwich in Essex, were left stranded and having to fork out thousands for new flights.
Martyn Entwistle, 39, accused the airline of discrimination, having already warned BA staff the day before of what Mason might say, due to his anxiety about flying.
He said: "Mason was crying on the floor and desperately apologising. He said: 'What's the point in my life if I'm not allowed to do anything.' Everyone was in tears."
Tourette’s syndrome is a neurological condition that causes people to make involuntary sounds or movements, known as tics.
Mr Entwistle said the group made it through security "seamlessly" until they reached the gate, despite Mason, who was wearing a sunflower lanyard and had his diagnosis letter with him, shouting the word "bomb" several times.
However, things escalated after Mason became increasingly anxious at the departure gate, and the family were pulled aside by a duty manager.
Mr Entwistle told the Daily Mail. "When we got to the gate he was ticcing a lot more. So the duty manager took us down to the bridge and said the captain needs to speak to us."
In a video of the confrontation, staff are heard to say: "We are not refusing him because he's got a disability. We are refusing him because there's been a threat made that he has a bomb in his bag. We have to take it incredibly seriously."
Mr Entwistle said: “No-one offered Mason any assistance or help as we were taken back into the airport. It's intimidating for an adult when you've got armed officers with guns behind you, let alone for an upset kid. It was clear he was totally broken down."
Armed police escorted Mason out of the airport with his dad, mum Gemma, 36, and his one-year-old sister, Ariella, while his 16-year-old sister, Layla, was allowed to board the flight with their family friends.
Mr Entwistle also claims the family were refused transfer onto another BA flight after staff alleged he refused to leave the boarding bridge.
He strongly denied this, saying: "There were armed officers there, as if I'd refuse to leave in that scenario."
The family, who had already spent £4,000 on the flights for a group of 10, had to spend the night in an airport hotel before paying £2,400 for new flights with Vueling on Sunday, arriving in Alicante a day late.
Mr Entwistle said: "I'm not a very emotional person and I was brought to tears.
"My wife was also crying her eyes out for Mason, as he's been looking forward to this holiday for an extremely long time.
"To get him right to the check-in desk and then be turned away was just heartbreaking for the poor kid. It was absolutely horrendous."
He said it was important to continue with their holiday so Mason could know "he shouldn't be treated differently to anyone else".
He added that he has contacted Tourette's charities in the hope no other family experiences the same ordeal, and hoped BA staff would learn lessons from how they saw the incident.
British Airways is believed to have offered the family a refund on their flights, according to The Sun.
A spokesperson for BA said: “This was an extremely difficult, complex and distressing situation.
“Due to a number of contributing factors, the decision was made not to allow the group to travel on the flight.”
