A Spirit Airlines crewmember tried to force a Jewish family of three off the airplane in Orlando before takeoff because their just-turned 2-year-old daughter would’t wear a mask. She claimed the pilot wanted them off the plane:
VIDEO: @SpiritAirlines staffer tells pregnant Mom that her young child needs to put on a mask despite eating or else police will be called.
NOTE that the video shows the early moments of this incident, so @SpiritAirlines can’t pull here a he/she said. pic.twitter.com/DpJkXfvWJH
— Yossi Gestetner (@YossiGestetner) April 5, 2021
It’s worth noting the mom was also 7 months pregnant with a special needs child.
After the family wouldn’t leave, the crewmember said she would go get the police and have them removed.
Instead, the entire complement of passengers were deplaned:
ORLANDO: HORRIFIC – Family with special needs child is kicked off @SpiritAirlines flight to NJ – along with entire plane – after their 2-year-old didn’t wear a mask. Police were called. pic.twitter.com/qTwQrrh2au
— KolHaolam (@KolHaolam) April 5, 2021
Unlike other incidents, this one does have a happy ending. The crewmember was removed and everyone let back on board, including the family:
ORLANDO: UPDATE: @SpiritAirlines flight attendant who ordered the family off the flight was removed, family allowed back on. Passengers are reboarding with a new flight crew. pic.twitter.com/MWSzUdi3eB
— KolHaolam (@KolHaolam) April 5, 2021
Unlike @FlyFrontier who kept dishing out insults and alleged lies against the victims of their abuse a few weeks back, @SpiritAirlines let everyone back onto the plane. (Possibly everyone except for the abusive – and potentially bigoted – crew member.) pic.twitter.com/7h4qA73ExD
— Yossi Gestetner (@YossiGestetner) April 5, 2021
Jews face a lot of persecution just for being Jews. We don’t know the motivation of this crewmember, but it seems more than ironic that she was removed and the family was let back on the plane. Whatever the case, I’m glad Spirit Airlines did the right thing here.