A woman was escorted off a JetBlue flight in handcuffs and a wheelchair after refusing to wear a mask, first claiming she was too afraid of flying and later claiming she could not keep it on due to menopause.
New Excuse Not To Wear Mask: Menopause + Fear Of Flying?
The incident, which occurred last month onboard a JetBlue flight in West Palm Beach (PBI), was broadcast on TikTok. It begins with a woman being wheeled off the aircraft by police. It then cuts back to what occurred onboard.
According to witnesses, the incident began shortly after boarding. Brooklyn DeGumbia, who streamed much of the interaction onboard, noted:
“When the flight attendant asked her to pull it up, she said she can’t wear it cause she’s nervous and this is her first time flying alone. The attendant said super politely, ‘If you can’t wear your mask you’re gonna have to get off the plane and we’ll find another solution.’ Then she said, ‘OK,’ and put her mask on — then five minutes later she took it down and then the attendant came back over.”
The cat and mouse game continued. After several confrontations, the passenger claimed she was expericining menopause and therefore could not keep the mask on. DeGumbia continued:
“So the attendant brought her water — and then she took it down again. Then medics came on and she said ‘I’m fine’ — then she took it down again and refused to get up when they asked her to get off — and during that time she was yelling she had it back on.”
Eventually, JetBlue emptied the aircraft, leaving the passenger and the police. Moments later she was seen proceeding from the jet bridge on a wheelchair.
Her antics caused a three-hour flight delay.
JetBlue placed the emphasis on medical reasons, which helps to explain why she carried off in a wheelchair, but seems to contradict the passenger account.
“On August 24th, JetBlue flight 1142 with scheduled service from West Palm Beach to Hartford was delayed before take-off when a customer appeared to be going in and out of consciousness shortly after boarding the aircraft. EMTs and law enforcement were requested and assisted the customer off the aircraft.”
The passenger’s face is covered by an upside yellow smiley face in the TikTok video, but it does appear she had no trouble keeping on her mask when the flight attendant was looking or speaking to her, thus undermining her argument that she could not wear one.
CONCLUSION
This is a case where I’d like to hear the passenger’s side of the story. While medical exemptions to the mask rule do exist, fear of flying and menopause are probably not two of the valid exceptions…
image: brooklyndegumbia / TikTok
I’m as anti mask as they come for multiple reasons, but sorry no excuses for her or anyone else flying. Don’t need to hear her side of it. You know the rules when you book and made a commitment to wearing one. Flying is the only times I wear a mask and I understand it’s my choice to not do these activities if I don’t want to wear a mask. The easy answer to to buy a bead mask that are available online. Other than the ears bands, it’s like wearing no mask at all.
A bead mask is a joke. It may satisfy a requirement but offer no protection to anyone.
Fear of flying can be a valid reason not to fly. I do not believe it’s a valid reason not to wear a mask on a flight. How about fear of personal safety? Should that be a reason that passengers can be exempt and carry mortar and live mortar shells on a plane? No.
If it’s a joke, go along wit it and make everybody laugh. People buying a ticket and entering the airport know the rules. It’s just an arrogant person who is used to having her own way and cannot follow instructions. Masks do offer some help and if that’s all the airports and airlines ask for, just do it.
This spoiled brat made the flight late for no good reason, menopause, pleeze!
“While medical exemptions to the mask rule do exist, fear of flying and menopause are probably not two of the valid exceptions…”
As a woman in menopause with a former fear of flying, I agree – go to your doctor and get a prescription for any one of many anti-anxiety meds that can be taken in very small doses on an as needed basis.
Dave Edwards does sound like a fine anti-masker name so imma trust his input fully.
I’m not at all interested in her side of the story. It sounds like countless others where the person refusing to abide by the rules keeps trying to come up with various excuses, hoping one of them will work.
I’ll be so happy when we’re past all this and can get back to reading more about travel experiences and deals instead of the bottom-of-the-barrel headline-grabbers.
White entitled..” Guys, listen to me.. my daughter is going to College”…..LOL…
I’m not defending her but handcuffs ??? I am just sick to death of one person disrupting the lives of 200 other people for three hours, police called, stupid mask on/ mask off/ mask on/ various excuses why they can’t cope, etc. Just haul her off at the first sign of non-compliance, back into the gate area or customer service desk to figure out how she is going to get to wherever she is going while the jetbridge door slams her in the behind. If these airline employees didn’t go to the two extremes of either coddling or rough/tough jackbooted SWAT behavior maybe THEY could cope and get their jobs done. This will never end because these two extremes and no common sense.
Seriously – why is the state of Florida involved in virtually everyone one of these instances, followed by flights that touch Vegas?
I mean, have you had a menopausal hot flash? Just sayin’?
(That’s a JOKE, before anyone thinks I am defending her).
if any of you believe that a mask, particularly the ones people are wearing, offer any protection from any virus, I have a bridge to sell you. Same for the vaccines, they offer about as much protection from covid as a flu vaccine does against the flu (they are termed ‘leaky’ vaccines). The airlines are just enforcing the arbitrary and non-scientific rules that our government is mandating….which have obviously done little to nothing against covid, and could actually be doing more long term harm than any short term perceived good.
If you are healthy, have no comorbities, you have about a .2% chance of dying or even having serious injury from covid, and from my research, it appears I personally would have a higher chance of serious injury or negative long term complications from taking one of these mrna ‘vaccines’ than not taking one….also, the antibodies generated from covid are much more effective (20x) than the mrna vaccine antibodies. (per Israeli study) The masks are all theater, nothing else. You could draw a mask on your face and that would be as effective…