by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:50 PM ET, Fri August 21, 2020
A mother from New York City was removed from a JetBlue flight on Wednesday after her two-year-old daughter kept removing her facial covering on the plane.
According to 6ABC.com, 39-year-old Chaya Bruck said she boarded a JetBlue plane with her six children in Orlando after a vacation and was ready to fly back home to New York City when flight attendants reminded her to put a mask on her daughter.
While all of the other children were wearing the masks, the two-year-old daughter would not keep the facial covering on, which is required by the airline for any passenger over the age of two.
"I said I could try," Bruck told 6ABC. "Like what, am I going to tie her hands and feet? How am I going to get her to? I took out a mask and tried to put in on. She pulled it off.
After several warnings, the family was told they were in violation of the airline's mandatory facial coverings policy and was removed from the plane. While JetBlue has since apologized for the inconvenience, they stand by their safety policies and the flight crew's decision.
"During these unprecedented times, our first priority is to keep crewmembers and customers safe, and we've quickly introduced new safety policies and procedures throughout the pandemic," a JetBlue spokesperson told 6ABC.
"Specifically, our face covering policy was updated most recently on August 10 to ensure everyone is wearing a face covering - adults and children alike - to help prevent the spread of coronavirus," the statement continued. "Children age 2 and over must wear a face covering, consistent with CDC guidelines, which say Masks should not be worn by children under the age of 2."
In response, Bruck said, "My kids were traumatized. I was traumatized, and it was so unnecessary."
Earlier this week, a fight broke out on an American Airlines flight over the airline's mask-wearing policy. One of the two passengers involved in the altercation apparently did not follow the airline's requirement to wear a face-covering onboard.
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