American Airlines cancels Bahamas flight after 30 Boston teens refuse to wear masks
American Airlines was prompted to cancel Flight 893 from North Carolina to the Bahamas on Monday, July 5. The incident happened after a group of 30 teenagers violated the in-flight Covid-19 safety norm of wearing masks. The teenagers, all of whom appeared to be between 17 and 18 years of age, hailed from Boston. They were reportedly heading to the Bahamas for a graduation trip.
However, onboard the flight, the youngsters denied to comply with the rules and put on their masks. The federal mask policy mandates all passengers to wear their masks on planes. According to co-passenger Stephanie Krzywanski, "There were a group of high school seniors celebrating their graduation who were being rowdy and not wearing their masks." Eventually, the flight which was scheduled to depart from Charlotte Douglas International Airport en route to Nassau, was canceled by the airline operator.
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What happened on Flight 893?
Before the mask incident took place, the flight experienced technical issues, which already delayed it from the originally scheduled time. It was after a change of planes that the issue with the mask transpired.
According to co-passengers, the group of thirty teenagers was behaving in a "very obnoxious" manner. It is believed that the group was probably not chaperoned by any adults, since American Airlines allows passengers above 15 years to travel unaccompanied. A spokesperson from American Airlines confirmed the incident. They further mentioned that the teenagers not only declined to follow the instructions from crew members, but they were also disruptive towards fellow passengers.
Malik Banks, who was seated next to the group in the flight, said, "It was bad. Firstly they were yelling, they were cussing. They were being very obnoxious. It wasn't all of them... I'd say 75 to 80 percent of them were being terrible kids." Banks also revealed that due to the behavior of the teens, the other passengers were forced to wait for six hours. Another passenger Christina Randolph told WSOC-TV, "All they had to do was follow the rules, put the mask on, sit there, no smart mouth comments. They couldn't do it."
In the end, the flight faced an extended delay and was rescheduled for the following morning. All the passengers of Flight 893 were rebooked automatically for the rescheduled flight, including the thirty troublesome teenagers. The passengers were provided with hotel stay and meal vouchers for the unpredicted inconvenience. However, the teenagers were forced to sleep in the airport since they were too young to check into a hotel.