(WHDH) — A mother says she will never fly American Airlines again after she was forced off of a flight because her crying 2-year-old son refused to put a mask on.
“I’m at a complete loss of words. The eyes of a mama-bear who just bawled her eyes out as she was forced off an airplane because her 2 year old wouldn’t keep his mask on,” Rachel Davis wrote in an Instagram post.
Davis said she and her son had not even taken their seats on a flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Manchester, New Hampshire, on Thursday when a flight attendant approached them and demanded that the young boy put a mask on immediately.
Davis explained that she did everything that she possibly could to get her son to wear a mask but he was just too overtired following a long week of travel.
“I tried repeatedly, begged him, bribed him, pleaded with him, did everything I could while he was screaming and crying as I tried to hold him and put the mask on, feeling my absolute lowest of lows as a mother,” Davis wrote in the post.
Davis told ABC News that she was on a work trip in Florida when Hurricane Sally moved in, forcing them to vacate the Sunshine State. The flight out of Charlotte was their fourth of the week.
“I continued trying to get him to wear the mask, bawling my eyes out and hyperventilating behind my own suffocating mask,” Davis added in the post. “Desperate to get home after the worst week. He would have been asleep before we even pushed back if they had just been humans.”
Davis said the pilot ultimately decided that she and her son had no choice but to get off the flight. The two were then moved to a later departure time.
In a statement, American Airlines told 7NEWS, “To ensure the safety of our customers and team, American Airlines requires all persons 2 years and older to wear an appropriate face covering throughout the entirety of their journey. Policies are enforced and approved face coverings are made available at key points throughout the customer journey. We’ve reached out to the family to learn more about their recent travel experience and to address their concerns.”
Davis concluded her post by questioning, “This is the world we live in?”
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