We often tell my son not to be a Papagei (parrot in German) because he has a habit of repeating himself (over and over) when making a request that we don’t immediately respond to. It can be very annoying! I wonder if that is what pushed an Allegiant flight attendant over the edge after a man repeatedly demanded that raiser her face mask over her nose and mouth while performing a safety demonstration?
Allegiant Flight Attendant Kicks Off Man Who Told Her To Wear Mask
The flight attendant lowered her mask during the manual safety demonstration. That prompted a senior citizen passenger to interrupt the safety presentation (several times it seems) demanding that the flight attendant put the mask back on.
His conduct was sufficiently bothersome to the flight attendant to get him thrown off the aircraft.
This old guy was removed from the plane on allegiant Airlines this morning from Punta Gorda Florida pic.twitter.com/I1X5T2BKOr
— Patrick (@peter61809160) September 7, 2020
I generally agree with One Mile at a Time’s take on this, though with one exception. I wear this mask all the time because it is washable and comfortable. But it does muffle your voice. Frankly, it’s quite annoying. I was checking in at my gym the other day and the lady could not understand me so I ended up lowering the mask to speak to her. Totally counterproductive, no? But I personally confirm masks can muffle your voice.
That said, I find the flight attendant’s actions pathetic and power-tripping, even if the guy was a nuisance. A fight attendant should be like Natasha and de-escalate problems, not escalate them by being so thin-skinned and unreasonable.
Allegiant Defends Flight Attendant
Addressing the incident, an Allegiant spokesperson told Newsweek:
“The passenger was removed for repeatedly disrupting the pre-flight safety briefing which includes reiteration of our inflight face-covering policy. The flight attendant giving the safety briefing lowered their mask for speaking into the PA so the briefing could be understood.”
Maybe the old man was a Trump guy and wanted to mock the double-standard mask policy which mandates the mask be worn at all times during the flight except while eating and drinking. Maybe he was genuinely scared and could not figure out why such a double standard existed.
Whatever the reason, unless he was cursing out the flight attendant, it doesn’t seem proportionate that he was kicked off. Indeed, the negative reaction of his fellow passengers in the video above seems to back up that conclusion.
In a removed second video (I watched it last night and regret not downloading it…), a passenger yelled, “Allegiant has their frickin policy. You’re supposed to be wearing a f****** mask to begin with.” I’m surprising he didn’t get removed too. Another passenger questioned the flight attendant, who responded by saying, “I’m just doing what I’m supposed to do.”
That’s an abdication of responsibility, even if she was six feet away while making the pre-flight announcements and had every right to lower her mask. The goal is to educate passengers and seek compliance, not strand people in Punta Gorda.
And maybe Allegiant should get its own house in order before casting the first stone:
That surprises me after my recent trip where I witnessed the flight attendant wear her mask below her nose for much of the flight pic.twitter.com/USWfnnXAdh
— Colleen Napora (@ruirish01) September 6, 2020
.@Allegiant how am I supposed to feel safe flying when my chatty Kathy flight attendant isn’t even wearing her mask properly and keeps taking it off?!? Safety first or last…? pic.twitter.com/N61Y4h6xB7
— Jessie Kunkel (@jesscacaroline) September 4, 2020
CONCLUSION
People are on edge in this pandemic era and with so much misinformation circulating about, I can understand the old man’s reaction. Based upon the facts before us, he should not have been thrown off. What a world we live in…you can be thrown off an airplane for not wearing a mask and for asking someone else to wear a mask…
Traveling in America’s politically correct reign of fear must indeed be extremely frustrating for the common man nowadays …
One day we will all look back and figure out the mask BS was just that; BS.
One day we’ll look back and figure out that all the moron who refused to wear masks caused unnecessary deaths and prolonged the pandemic. We’ll also learn that the death count is actually much higher.
Matthew is right on this one.
I suggest we all play the game we need to in order to get through all this mess. I know that they offer the cheapest flight available so I will sit on the floor with a since cap on for the whole trip. just do what they ask. is that so hard? just shut up and quit looking for any confrontation. let her do her job which may take two minutes. keep your mouth shut and quit sitting it all up! Just follow all rules required no matter where you go. You all need to grow up.
“Maybe the old man was a Trump guy and he wanted to mock…”
Or maybe the old man was a Biden guy and he forgot why he was on a plane.
It’s hard to believe there are still the mask-deniers. But, Armand, Pete and Steve show that trumpsters will never allow facts to get in the way of their opinions.
They’re the same trolls that don’t believe in masks, but do totally believe QAnon is real
JFC I’ve been enumerating door-to-door for the Census Bureau for the past two months and am masked *whenever* I am less than 50 feet away from another human, always outside. I am still scared, like April 2020 scared, of the virus. But I make my Census spiel, dozens of sentences at each visit, masked. *Not one* person, out of a thousand, has ever come to their door with a mask on. If I can babble on all day ten feet from every person I meet, masked, then this flight attendant can do the same for five minutes, or she can go on oxygen or lose weight. It’s been six months since mask rules went into effect. Get with the program.
Headline should read: “Obnoxious a…h…e passenger kicked off flight” For all you Trimpsters, the virus is real and face coverings are validated by science.
Dreadful old crone on a power trip, harassing this, admittedly annoying, passenger.
Your statement “Maybe the old man was a Trump guy and wanted to mock the double-standard mask policy which mandates the mask be worn at all times during the flight except while eating and drinking.” Was TOTALLY UNCALLED FOR…LEAVE THE POLITICAL OPINION out of this.
You think it is criticizing Trump to mock double standards?
My girlfriend was recently on a flight with Allegiant and asked a flight attendant to ask some other passengers to wear their masks. The flight attendants refused. We won’t be flying on Allegiant anymore.