Mandatory face masks for airline flights are already being challenged on planes, putting carriers in the precarious position of following through with harsh penalties announced earlier this week.
On Thursday, American Airlines temporarily barred a New York man from flying with the airline following a social media blowup over his refusal to wear a mask during a flight to Dallas the day before.
Passenger Brandon Straka, a New York hair stylist who describes himself on Twitter as a “former liberal” and founder of the WalkAway Campaign, which encourages defections from the Democratic Party, wore a mask to board the New York-to-Seattle flight that connected in Dallas.
He took off the mask after boarding, prompting American Airlines crew to remove him from the plane and book him on a later flight. He posted a video to Twitter after his removal, contending the crew unjustly wanted to force him to wear a mask.
American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said the Fort Worth-based carrier determined that Straka failed to comply with its mask policy and crew member instructions.
“Mr. Straka will be permitted to fly with us once face coverings are no longer required for customers,” Feinstein said in a statement.
After mandating that customers wear masks more than a month ago, airlines cracked down on stubborn travelers this week with threats that passengers could be prohibited from future flights if they didn’t abide by face-covering rules.
On a separate flight Wednesday, a New York Times reporter said on Twitter that there was a “mutiny” among passengers on his flight from Dallas to Tulsa because a man didn’t want to wear a mask.
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