Daily US Times: A passenger from an American Airlines flight has removed after he refused to wear a face covering in compliance with its Covid-19 safety policy.
Brandon Straka was asked to wear a face mask on Flight 1263 from New York to Dallas, Texas, on Wednesday, but when he refused to do that, he was asked to leave the flight, the airline said.
Mr Straka said there was no law that required him to wear a face covering on the flight.
Mr Straka tweeted from New York’s LaGuardia Airport: “I was just removed from my flight for not wearing a mask. 1st time this has happened. Not a federal law.”
Face masks have been used to mitigate the risk of spreading coronavirus during this pandemic situation.
American Airlines on Monday announced “a stronger policy for customer face coverings”.
The airlines said customers who refused to wear face coverings would not be allowed to board and could be banned from future travel.
Mr Straka is a former actor and hairstylist who has appeared as a guest on Fox News, and founded the #WalkAway Campaign, which urges people to disavow their support for the Democratic Party.
The #WalkAway website sells branded merchandise including a $20 (£16) face mask.
Het described American Airlines’ mask policy as “absolutely insane” in a video posted to Twitter, declaring, “We don’t even have a choice anymore.”
In a video posted to Twitter, the conservative activist described American Airlines’ mask policy as “absolutely insane”. He also said “We don’t even have a choice anymore.”
A flight attendant told his “it was the law” to wear a face mask on the plane, which he described a ‘mistake’ by the flight attendant.
He said: “When I pointed out this was not true, they said, ‘yes it is, yes it is’.”
He said that eventually, they changed their story to, ‘it’s our policy and if you don’t do it you can’t fly with us’.”
He said no-one has even asked him if he has a condition that prevents his from wearing a mask. The whole staff were standing around his, intimidating him, he claims.
A New York Times reporter was also on board the flight. The journalist managed to record some of the dispute on his mobile phone.
Mr Straka can he heard in the video posted in Twitter arguing with a flight attendant. When prompted, she asks him if he has a medical condition, then if he has paperwork to confirm this.
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