Frontier Airlines has been accused of antisemitism after removing an Orthodox Jewish family from a Miami to Newark flight on Sunday night over allegations that their 18-month-old child wasn’t wearing a face mask. The airline has denied the incident erupted because of the child and said the family were removed because “members of a large group, including adults, refused to wear masks”.
Video has since emerged of the family being removed from Frontier Airlines flight F9-2878 which had been preparing for departure from Miami bound for Newark on Sunday. During the time that the video was taken, all of the family members are seen wearing approved face coverings except for the young child.
After other passengers got involved in the dispute, Frontier Airlines ended up deplaning the entire plane and the flight was eventually cancelled after tensions continued to simmer in the gate area.
Under recently approved federal rules, all airlines passengers aged two years and over must wear a face mask unless they are eating or drinking, or if they have a medical exemption. Airlines have, however, enforced similar rules for months – including a requirement that young children wear face masks.
The requirement to make toddlers wear a face mask has put other families in a difficult position in the past leading to several high-profile incidents because their young children couldn’t tolerate wearing a face mask.
While the U.S. rules are in line with similar policies introduced in Canada, Hong Kong and elsewhere, many European countries only enforce face mask requirements on children aged six and over. In the United Kingdom, the rule isn’t enforced until children reach 11 years old.
In a statement, Frontier Airlines said it made “repeated requests” to the family to comply with federal rules but continued non-compliance “necessitated their removal from the flight”.
Law enforcement was called to the plane which in turn led to other passengers getting involved and arguing with flight attendants. As a result, Frontier Airlines deplaned all passengers where the dispute continued in the gate area.
The flight was eventually cancelled and passengers have now been booked on alternative flights. The family at the center of the incident are said to be traveling to New York on an alternative carrier.
Frontier Airlines has since been bombarded with social media allegations of antisemitism – an allegation that the airline denies, saying its staff were only trying to comply with federal face mask rules.
Photo Credit: Frontier Airlines / Video Credit: @OJPAC via Twitter
Yes, Anti-Semitism has reared its ugly head. It is cloaked in the Professional laws of Sodom!
Kudos to those Non-Jews that stood up for what was wrong! For all those that stood silent, it is just as well as they did the wrong!
Standing by silent when things are wrong is like saying the wrong is right!!
Anti-semitism is wrong! We all should stand up against this horrible Bias.
It is happening again. The Nuremberg laws are back.
Since this is the first time a Jewish family was deplaned because their child wouldn’t wear the mask, I highly doubt it was because of antisemitism. There have been other people from all walks of life that had been deplaned because their child wouldn’t keep the mask on. Last time was a Mexican family who didn’t scream racial bias from the rooftops!
Why does the title state it was a two year old child when the article then goes on to say that the child was in fact 18 months old. Misleading.
Many, many people have been deplaned for not wearing masks over the last year. What is noteworthy is that there were many members of this party that refused to comply with policy (now federal law).. Of course the entire family, once told they have to get off the plane, are going to try to pretend they were wearing masks the whole time. Simple solution? Wear a mask. Follow the law. If they had been doing this, there would have been no issues. We’ve been doing this for almost a year now. This didn’t take anyone by surprise.