The 46 Boston teenagers who were accused of refusing to wear masks on an American Airlines plane en route to the Bahamas were not responsible for the flight being delayed an entire day, the tour company behind the graduation trip says.
AA Flight 893, which was bound for Nassau, faced extensive delays on Monday after the mask-wearing ordeal on the plane at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
Fellow passengers say the teens, who had just graduated from Winthrop High School outside of Boston, refused to wear their masks and became disruptive on the plane.
The airline said the delay was the result of non-compliance with the federal mask mandate and that the passengers involved refused to follow crew member instructions.
But the owner of Breakaway Beach, a private tour company they had booked their trip through, says the airline wrongly punished the entire group after just one teenager refused to wear their mask.
AA Flight 893, which was bound for Nassau, faced extensive delays on Monday after the mask-wearing ordeal on the plane at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Passenger Stephanie Krzywanski filmed this video from the plane and, at one point, a mask-less young man waved at the camera. It is not clear if he was among the group of teens
Eugene Winer told the Boston Globe that the flight had initially been delayed for a technical issue, which forced passengers to remain on the plane without ventilation for about two hours.
‘During this time some passengers including the students may have removed masks due to the no air-conditioning/ventilation, quite unbearable conditions,’ he said.
‘One passenger was officially escorted off of the aircraft but was not ticketed or charged with an offense.’
Winer said all passengers were them removed from the flight while repairs were carried out but the 46 teens were told they couldn’t re-board because their classmate had been removed for not wearing a mask.
‘The actions of this passenger resulted in the entire group of graduates being labelled ‘unruly’ and ‘disruptive,’ ‘ he said.
‘Breakaway was told [by American Airlines] that the actions of one individual were the responsibility of the entire group.’
The airline eventually allowed the teens back on the plane but then the flight had to be delayed until the following day because there was no pilot, according to Winer.
The airline said the delay was the result of non-compliance with the federal mask mandate and that the passengers involved refused to follow crew member instructions
Fellow passengers say the teens, who had just graduated from Winthrop High School outside of Boston, refused to wear their masks and became disruptive on the plane. The teens were en route to the Bahamas on a graduation trip
Those on the flight were given hotel and meal vouchers while they waited for the new flight.
The teens, however, were unable to check in to a hotel due to age requirements and had to sleep in the airport instead.
Winthrop School District Superintendent Lisa Howard told DailyMail.com that the trip was not a school-sponsored event.
Jean Holgerson, the mother of one of the teens, said the entire ordeal has been blown out of proportion.
‘It wasn’t this big standoff like everyone is portraying,’ Holgerson told WHDH.
‘A representative from Breakaway Beach was there. We have 46 children that are saying this differently. I have no idea why some would fabricate that.’
The mother said flight attendants initially asked one of the teens to get off the flight for not complying with the mask mandate.
‘As soon as they walked away, some woman walked to the bathroom without a mask,’ she said.
‘So now, the kids got a little bit upset how she can… and this that so at that point they might’ve gotten a little rowdy. No one swore, they were still respectful.’
The owner of Breakaway Beach (above), a private tour company they had booked their trip through, says the airline wrongly punished the entire group after just one teenager refused to wear their mask
Other passengers, however, had earlier accused the teens of being unruly and ‘very obnoxious’.
Passenger Stephanie Krzywanski filmed herself on a call with News19 from the plane and, at one point, a mask-less young man waves at the camera.
It is not clear if he was among the group of teens.
‘There were a group of high school seniors celebrating their graduation who were being rowdy and not wearing their masks,’ she said.
Malik Banks, who was sitting next to the group, told WSOC-TV: ‘It was bad. Firstly they were yelling, they were cussing. They were being very obnoxious.
‘It wasn’t all of them… I’d say 75 to 80 percent of them were being terrible kids.’
He said they were forced to wait six hours before they were told what was happening with the flight.
Another passenger, Christina Randolph, said: ‘All they had to do was follow the rules, put the mask on, sit there, no smart mouth comments. They couldn’t do it.’