A new viral video is circulating, which calls into question the rigidity of airlines' mask-wearing policies when it comes to small children.
Eliz Orban, along with her husband and two-year-old daughter, were seated aboard a United Airlines flight bound from Denver to New Jersey on Friday. The plane had already pulled away, but returned to the gate remove her family from the flight because their toddler refused to keep her mask on, despite her parents' attempts to coax her into cooperating.
In an Instagram post, teary-eyed and distraught, Orban said, "We just got kicked off the flight because our two-year-old would not put on a mask, and we tried." She also posted footage of her husband trying repeatedly to put a face-covering on their little daughter, who turns away, covers her face and cries at the prospect of putting it on.
Eventually, dad is seen with daughter Edeline in his lap, holding a gator over her face, when a flight attendant comes up and says, "Hello, sir, I'm going to have to ask you to grab your belongings and exit the aircraft." Shocked, Orban's husband responds, "You've gotta be kidding me!"
He incredulously asks the crewmember whether such unceremonious ousting is routine and is told, "If there's non-compliance, yes." Orban's husband responds, "I'm literally holding this over my daughter's face. This is compliance, right here."
No matter, apparently. Rules are rules, and Orban's family was ultimately ousted from the flight. Back in the terminal, United crewmembers can be heard to tell them that their checked baggage will continue on to the destination, causing even more frustration for the family. "Our child seat is on that plane, how are we supposed to go home?" Orban pleads in the video.
"I am still sitting here in confusion, disbelief, disgust and humiliation," Orban wrote in her post. "And what blows my mind even more is that the WHO recommends against face masks for kids under the age of 5."
Generally speaking, the World Health Organization has advised that, "children aged five years and under should not be required to wear masks,", partly based on, "the capacity to appropriately use a mask with minimal assistance." Although, WHO's guidance also notes that there may be some specific settings in which children younger than five may be required to mask up.
In a statement following the incident, United Airlines told news outlet Heavy that the family's luggage was ultimately not sent on to New Jersey without them. The airline also said that none of the family members had been banned from flying with United in the future, which was something Orban had claimed in her post.
"We are investigating this specific incident and have made contact with the family," the airline said. "We also refunded their tickets and returned their car seat and bags."
However, United also defended crewmembers' actions, saying, "The health and safety of our employees and customers is our highest priority, which is why we have a multi-layered set of policies, including mandating that everyone onboard two and older wears a mask. These procedures are not only backed by guidance from the CDC and our partners at the Cleveland Clinic, but they're also consistent across every major airline."
In her post, Orban noted that she and her husband are Silver Premiere members with United, and that they'd already flown with their daughter four times since the pandemic began without incident. This time, they were attempting to visit friends and family members, some of whom they hadn't seen in years, in New Jersey/NYC as part of a Christmas tradition.
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