Frontier Under Fire for Canceling Flight Over Mask Issue

Image: PHOTO: Frontier Airlines Airbus A320. (photo via Laser1987/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus)
Image: PHOTO: Frontier Airlines Airbus A320. (photo via Laser1987/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus)
Rich Thomaselli
by Rich Thomaselli
Last updated: 10:41 AM ET, Mon March 1, 2021

Frontier Airlines is under fire this morning after canceling a flight from Florida due to a "large group" of passengers refusing to wear a mask - but many on the plane called out the airline and said it was stretching the truth, and that the incident only involved an 18-month old baby without a face covering.

The issues came Sunday on Flight 2878 from Miami International to New York's LaGuardia Airport.

"Multiple people, including several adults, were asked repeatedly to wear their masks and refused to do so," the airline said in a statement Sunday night. "Based on the continued refusal to comply with the federal mask mandate, refusal to disembark the aircraft and aggression towards the flight crew, local law enforcement was engaged."

But several other passengers told the New York Post that the Frontier crew was being disingenuous.

"We were all on the plane when they [flight attendants] came on and saw the 18-month-old baby without a mask," passenger Harvey Greenbaum said.

In video footage of the incident, the father can be seen explaining that the child was under the age of two.

Greenbaum said other passengers came to the defense of the family and became "rowdy" when they were booted.

"All the people on the plane were getting really mad and rowdy because, what are you going to do? It's an 18-month old baby," Greenbaum said. "Most of them were saying 'Don't let them do this to you,'" Greenbaum said of the other passengers. "Most of the people were against it, Jewish or not Jewish, why are you picking on an 18-month-old kid?"

The airline said: "To be clear, the issue did not stem from a child under the age of two."


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Rich Thomaselli

Rich Thomaselli

Associate Writer

Editor Associate Writer true 9281 14744 Rich Thomaselli has written for TravelPulse since 2014 and has been a professional journalist for nearly 40 years. His work has appeared in USA Today, the New York Times and New York Yankees publications. He is an 11-time writ

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