(JTA) — A Brooklyn mother traveling alone with her six children was ordered off a JetBlue airplane after her 2-year-old refused to keep on her mask.
Chaya Bruck was traveling home on a flight from Orlando, Florida, to Newark, New Jersey, on Wednesday.
When she refused to leave the plane, citing the airlines own regulations, the captain ordered all the passengers off the flight. Many passengers were supportive of Bruck, calling on the captain and flight attendants to let her and her children remain on the flight, as seen in videos taken on the plane.
Bruck’s daughter will be 3 in September.
Bruck told flight attendants on the plane and a representative in the airport after she deplaned that the JetBlue mask policy posted on its Travel Alerts page read that “Small children who are not able to maintain a face covering are exempt from this requirement.” A screenshot of the policy is posted on the Yeshiva World News website.
But the New York Daily News reported that the company updated the page at 2 p.m. Wednesday, citing a timestamp on the website. The policy was changed to “all travelers 2 years and older must wear a face covering over their nose and mouth throughout their journey.” A JetBlue spokesman told the newspaper that the policy on face coverings because of the coronavirus pandemic was actually updated on Aug. 10.
Bruck and her children first traveled on JetBlue to Orlando on Aug. 9. She told the Daily News that an attendant on that flight argued with her about her daughter not wearing a face mask. That same attendant was on Wednesday’s flight, she said.
The family flew home on a United Airlines flight, she wrote on Facebook.
“Shame on you for harassing me and kicking me off with my 6 children because my 2 year old wouldn’t cooperate and wear a mask. jetBlue InFlight CREWmembers your crew members were nothing but bully’s and treated me and my family inhumanly. You have traumatized my children and me for life,” the post said.
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