Another chapter in our volume of stories on two-year-olds being thrown off airplanes for not being able to keep on a mask. The twist this time, however, is that the child suffers from asthma and his mother tried very hard to keep it on. In attempting to balance competing policy concerns, I maintain that more mercy should be shown toward young children.
Two-Year-Old With Asthma Thrown Off American Airlines Flight
The incident occurred on September 13th onboard American Airlines Flight 1284 from Dallas (DFW) to Colorado (COS). According to Amanda Pendarvis, mother of two-year-old Waylon, after pushing back, a “truly evil, power-tripping” flight attendant noticed the child was having trouble keeping his mask on and demanded that the captain turn the plane around in order to kick off the boy and his mother. On Instagram, she noted:
“He got on the intercom and to say to the entire plane, “I’m sorry for the delay but we are dealing with a non-compliant traveler…
“I was not refusing a mask, nor did I even say I wouldn’t try to keep a mask on my son. We were escorted off the plane as I was holding a mask over his little face. I genuinely don’t have words.”
Waylon suffers from asthma and this was his first time wearing a mask. While American Airlines does offer a disability exemption, as required by federal law, it requires passengers to obtain one in advance. The Penarvis family did not.
An American Airlines spokesperson noted:
Initial reports indicate the party refused to comply with crew member instructions to remain seated and wear a face mask securely over their nose and mouth. After agreeing to adhere to federal face covering requirements, all individuals were rebooked for travel on the next flight to Colorado Springs.
We were not priviied to the interaction between the flight attendant and Penarvis family. Therefore, I will exercise caution before condemning the flight attendant as being overzealous. Certainly some will defend him for simply doing his job.
Stories like these draw my attention not so much because I believe that children cannot receive or spread COVID-19, but because I maintain that in a complicated world, rules must bend at times. Compassion is a public health concern as well. While the child may have put others at risk by not keeping his mask on, there was a very clear and apparent health risk at play: he could not properly breathe with the mask on.
Thus, it becomes an issue of bureaucracy. Kick the family off because they didn’t fill out the form before? It is in these cases that I would interpret exceptions to the rule more generously, on compassionate health grounds.
CONCLUSION
I realize that many come to a different conclusion and I’ve heard all the arguments before (just like you’ve heard mine). But I will continue to write about these incidents because as a parent of two young children, they do bother me. My son, four, has no trouble keeping a mask on. He probably would have when he was two (thankfully, before the pandemic). Hopefully my daughter will not have trouble next May when she turns two or the mask mandate will be long gone.
H/T: Paddle Your Own Kanoo // images: Amanda Pendarvis / Instargram
This is the world you all wanted. Enjoy it.
No, it’s the world you forced on us. By creating controversy, and crying over a stupid mask mandate. It’s you that set the pattern for events like this. You turned people against each other, rather than acting as reasonable beings. You nurtured dissent, which created unfair reactions. All of this over something no harder to wear than a seatbelt. All because your cult leaders saw an opportunity for dividing and eeeking out a base of radicals to their pleasure. Basically, F YOU. 1 in every 500 Americans has now died from Covid. And I assure you, had we been more united in our fight to defeat this monster you would not see incidents like this. People would be more understanding. I’m not defending the F/A’s actions, I am though saying that it’s you that created this reaction to your own callous actions.
Idiot:
The kid is two. What’s wrong with you?
This whole thing is ridiculous. I know there are very few 2 year olds that will where a mask ! Plus the kid had asthma I have never been impressed with UA attendants so that kid never had a chance all the other people had THIER MASKS ON SO WHAT THE HELL ONE 2 YEAR WAS NOT GOING YO GIVE EVERYONE COVID!! SO THE WHOLE THING WAS UNAVOIDANLE.
meanwhile in Sweden…nobody wears masks. < 50% vax rate (IN aug)…and near zero daily deaths (Mid Aug)
mask is a feel good thing, that's all.
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Stuart is a good example of everything wrong with city people. And why I live far, far away from them and their desperation to control everyone around them. And come hell or high water I don’t know why we feed them.
Have you ever suffered from an asthma attack? I hope you never have to. But if you do, then PLEASE WEAR YOUR FACE COVERING WHILE HAVING IT.
I enjoy seeing and hearing about people who refuse to follow rules, then get kicked off a plane. A mother of a 2 year old asthmatic child already knows prior to boarding that she won’t be able to comply with the rules. This mother was was motivated to get attention and sympathy instead of comfort for her child, which would have motivated her to get a car rental.
How many children died of Covid under the age of 18 in the year 2020? Anyone? According to the CDC, 290. Of those 290, many of them were unhealthy, obese, had cancer, had co-morbidities. Children are rarely, RARELY, affected by Covid. The mainstream media in conjunction with social media scare you and control you into believing covid is dangerous to children. It isn’t. The under 18 crowd die more of suicide than covid. Wake up people. Big pharma and big government is lying to you. Masking these kids and having them breathe in their own co2 over and over again is dangerous to their health long term.
That’s a powerful stat. Can you link us to the CDC page where you found that?
The wanton cruelty is shocking.
Makes you wish for mass layoffs, pension-cutting, and general humility-inducing fates for the many power-hungry little fascists the airlines employ these days.
I promise to show them the same humane compassion they have shown this and so many other families over the last year,
I’d pay to have a video crew film them being evicted from their homes for falling behind on their mortgages. The money shot would be hearing the marshals explain they are simply following the rules, and really, are “just doing their jobs”.
The flight attendant “demanded that the captain turn the plane around in order to kick off the boy and his mother.” If a flight attendant is making those decisions/demands then there is a big problem. How about just kicking the flight attendants off the plane if they are so afraid of a 2 year old being there without a mask.
Not fit to fly… OUT!
We stand a better chance of keeping our shoes on than our masks off. Your children will never even know that it was once possible to fly without a mask.
I don’t think that will be the case. At least I hope not…
You all are so negative! You need to look at the positive side of things. It’s one less crying f*ck trophy in the cabin.
Vulgar…
it was kinda funny though….
Yes, it was.
It was more than KIND OF funny.
Are you saying that you’re one of the trophies!’v
Was it safe for the child and rest of the cabin to be taxiing and taking off with the 2 year old unbuckled and having an asthma attack?
I don’t think this was a lap child right?
The PA about being noncompliant passenger was rich but as you say there is more to the story we don’t know.
If the cops were honorable, they would have arrested the flight attendant and pilots for interfering with an interstate commercial transport and also taken them for a 5150 hold. Any flight crew and cabin crew that does this type of thing is a hazard to flight safety. They don’t possess the judgement to be serving in their roles. Of course, cops just blindly follow orders and we should blindly have condemnation for them and act against them until they are replaced with cops who pledge never to enforce a leftist law or order. Conservatives are fools for supporting cops.
Ah, you had me until you went nutters with “we should blindly have condemnation for them and act against them until they are replaced with cops who pledge never to enforce a leftist law or order. Conservatives are fools for supporting cops.”
This is the world people like UA-NYC dream of and smile about. Obviously under their online persona. He hides behind the online bully he created.
People lie…..all the time. I’m not sure what happened but I’d bet a lot of money it’s not what either the mother or flight attendant say. I’m surprised there isn’t video yet.
Once again, American raced to the bottom and won. They are now what I would consider the worst airline of the US Big3. They clearly need a change of Executive leadership if they ever hope to regain the prestige they once had.
She should thank the Demented in Chief and his gang.
Two issues:
1. I never jump to any conclusions as to what really happened, such as what Scott quotes, when that is solely the viewpoint of one of the parties involved. We don’t know what transpired between the flight attendant and the pilot, but I’ve never heard of a flight attendant demanding or being in the position to demand such action. We simply don’t know.
2. With a two-year old with asthma, a truly unfortunate occurrence, if I were the parent I would not wait to board an aircraft to have him wear a mask for the first time. With any infant that’s a meltdown waiting to happen, but for a toddler with asthma having a mask put over his face at that point is a recipe for disaster. I think the parent should have used the mask earlier, maybe play acting being on an airplane at the home or wearing a mask while riding in a car.
I’m not inclined to side with the mother for a couple of reasons:
1) Her inflammatory language. If she’s calling the FA “truly evil, power tripping” that raises red flags with me. If you use language like that, that makes me think you’re the aggressor, not the FA.
2) She said the FA “demanded” the captain turn the plane around. There is no way an FA would demand a captain do anything.
“While American Airlines does offer a disability exemption, as required by federal law, it requires passengers to obtain one in advance. The Penarvis family did not.”
So the parents’s fault then.
Like why wouldn’t the parent have done research before booking the ticket? I would never cop an attitude if I hadn’t followed the rules to begin with.
I would be concerned that a 2 year old with asthma has a real risk of dying from Covid-19. The child is almost certainly not vaccinated. What is so urgent that they have to travel. The pandemic is raging. The unvaccinated are in deep do-do. The vaccinated should not be so smug because they are not superman.
A two year old with asthma is of significantly higher risk of dying of asthma than COVID. Obstructing a childs breathing mid asthma attack is pathological. And there’s something deeply wrong in the heads of anyone who thinks that’s a good idea.
I again have to ask, where’s the personal responsibility of the mother? If she knew the child had to fly, wouldn’t it make sense to play “let’s wear a mask” with the kid in the days/weeks leading up to the flight? This would get the child more comfortable with wearing a mask and, as there’s asthma, also help the mom determine if this is an issue and to make some alternate arrangements, including potentially getting a medical waiver.
Many people think they don’t have to follow the rules but I find it curious that we so many examples of parents wanting exceptions for their children. I wonder if this mentality is the cause or effect of our cultural malaise?
The airline didn’t make the rules. The TSA did. For those of you that don’t work in the industry it’s might be hard to understand, but rules are not meant to be “bent”. They are to be followed.
The TSA and FAA are not known for flexibility.
If crew members don’t enforce the rules they are risking their careers.
So If you don’t like these rules contact your elected representatives and let them know. Don’t take it out on the employees that are mandated to enforce them. Flight attendants have been attacked and injured for doing so. It’s not something they signed up for, and I can tell you they hate having to do it.
“They might risk their careers”? Well that’s kind of what the doctors and scientists who assisted the human experiments in Nazi Germany Most likely said. But they hung anyway as they were found guilty in the Nuremberg trials. So I guess real men and real women who love their freedoms need to stand up against tyranny and stand for something other than compliance to an unconstitutional mandate. Not to mention the fact that I for one snd my companies will never fly American Airlines or any airline that portrays this kind of behavior. I expect better!
Look I am in no way not an anti-masker, but you are some dumb f$&king people. A 2 year old toddler is like a puppy. They still shit and piss in their diapers. They can barely talk let alone comply with mask regulations. The WHO even states that children 5 and under should not be required to wear them.
Regardless of FAA or TSA or IF anyone cooped an attitude THE BABY WAS STRUGGLING TO BREATHE!
That is not a reason to turn a plane around on a short 2 hour flight and kick the family off! First, masks do NOTHING to stop a virus (ask for sources if necessary) so this is an illegal MANDATE and most importantly a harmful one. OSA regulations site Carbon Monoxide levels at or above 19.5 to be dangerous. One minute wearing any type of mask causes the meters which record these toxic gases to alarm… WHY would anyone think this is ok for adults let alone children?!? MASKS ARE NOT ABOUT HEALTH. They are a control mechanism. And the FA clearly wanted to use his power to control.
As a European from a country with zero corona restrictions – and falling cases and deaths nonetheless – trust me when I say: you’ve gone off the deep end, America.
Good for American! God only knows how my people’s health were at risk because this 2 year old didn’t have a mask. It’s selfish.
People need to learn when their government mandates something, you better damn well fall in line. The younger we teach them this the better!
Are you trolling or serious?
Ha, Ha! Either you meant that as a joke or you are absolutely clueless of the facts!
There is no study to show that children infect anyone with Covid and even if you got the Covid flu, you have an over 99% survival rate according to the CDC’s own statistics. And of course that includes people who died in nursing homes because governors put sick people in with compromised elderly,
And frankly you have no idea, if you were serious, that the government mandates are in violation of our constitutional rights. You may need to take a class in what the Constitution and the Bill of Rights is all about. In fact, it is our duty as free living American citizens to challenge illegal mandates and tyrannical dictates. Study history son especially Germany in the 1930s and you’ll see why we should be fighting back this tyranny.
You teach a child not to remove hair ties, hats, socks, shoes, etc from birth and they’re ok with wearing it by two. I suggest that the “teaching” about wearing a mask doesn’t start on their first flight ever! Parents set up themselves for failure.