Nightmare in the cabin. An American Airlines flight from Charlotte, North Carolina to the Bahamas was delayed by a day due to around 30 young people refusing to wear masks, local media reported on Tuesday.
American Airlines Flight 893, which was scheduled to depart from Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Monday, finally took off on Tuesday morning, with the troublemakers on board. If it was initially delayed for several hours due to mechanical problems, the aircraft was subsequently the theater of clashes between a group of young people who refused to comply with the rules in force in the United States, requiring the wearing of masks on all passengers in order to fight the Covid-19 pandemic, and the members of the crew, reported the local channel WSOC-TV.
“It was terrible. First they screamed. They hurled insults. They were obnoxious“, detailed to the media Malik Banks, also on board. The group of more than thirty teenagers was high school students from Boston and celebrating their graduation. They ended up agreeing to wear a mask the next day, after spending a night at the airport and the police made no arrests, according to local media.
Citizens opposed to restrictions on the plane
The incident reflects an overall increase in in-flight incivility according to American airlines, several federations and unions in the sector called on the Minister of Justice in June to prosecute more systematically any violent act on board planes.
Since January 1, 2021, 3.271 acts of incivility the share of passengers were recorded, including 2,475 linked to passengers refusing to wear a mask, according to a statement from the United States Aviation Agency (FAA) released on Tuesday.
