Colorado family kicked off flight because 2-year-old refuses to wear mask leaves mother sobbing in viral video
A video of a woman, weeping inconsolably while alleging that she along with her entire family were recently kicked off a flight because her two-year-old daughter refused to wear a face mask has gone viral. The mother documented the alleged incident on video, and it didn't take too long for it to go viral after she uploaded the same to social media.
Eliz Orban said she chose to fly with United Airlines. She along with her family had boarded the flight from Colorado's Denver International Airport and were on their way to Newark International Airport in New Jersey, earlier this week. She and her husband have made it a tradition to visit the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and were excited to bring along their daughter for their annual holiday ritual.
Orban said that the trip was planned and synchronized keeping in mind the schedules of their close friends and extended family. All of them were planning to meet in New Jersey, including some they hadn't met in a decade. The friends and family were flying in from Cleveland and Slovakia to meet up on the weekend, according to her.
She and her husband along with their two-year-old had boarded the airplane and were already seated. Both of them were masked but their young daughter who had a mask refused to wear it. A section of the video that Orban shared, also saw the father attempting to get his daughter to wear the covering multiple times. However, his daughter continually tried to block him from doing so.
Apparently, a United Airlines employee warned the couple that the 2-year-old needs to wear a face mask. The same United Airlines employee allegedly asked the family to deplane from the airliner because the 2-year-old had refused to wear a mask, The Blaze reported. Orban then went ahead to share a lengthy post on Instagram after the incident where she said that she was experiencing "confusion, disbelief, disgust and humiliation" at the same time.
"Today, we were asked to leave the plane after it had rolled out, and they had to bring it back to the gate because our 2-year-old daughter would not 'comply' and keep her mask on," a section of the extensive caption read. "Since our bags weren’t taken off the plane (they did get our child seat) - we have to wait until tomorrow till they deliver it to our house in Breckenridge which is 2 hours from the DIA airport. Definitely won’t make it to dinner in Jersey tonight," Orban wrote lamenting over the lost chance of meeting up with her close ones.
Orban also said that she and her husband are premier silver members at United, but are now banned from flying on United Airlines. She also noted that the World Health Organization advises that children up to 5-years-old shouldn't wear masks. In August this year, regarding masks for children, WHO had written, "Children aged 5 years and under should not be required to wear masks. This is based on the safety and overall interest of the child and the capacity to appropriately use a mask with minimal assistance." United Airlines in their rules have only exempted children below 2 years old from wearing masks. The airlines have yet to respond on the matter.