A husband and wife who say they are Silver elite members of United’s MileagePlus program report their family has been banned from United Airlines “forever” because their two year old was unwilling to keep a mask on. The child’s mother, a trainer and health coach, shares on Instagram that they ‘always fly United’ and have flown with their child four times during the pandemic without issue. So why now?
Of course if the child was unwilling to wear a mask when it was required and United’s rules weren’t enforced earlier, that’s on the airline.
The family was flying Denver to Newark on Friday after making the two and a half hour drive from their home in Breckenridge, Colorado. They didn’t get to take their flight, and didn’t get their luggage back right away either. United wasn’t going to delay the flight longer than it took to remove the family’s car seat so they could drive home.
The family’s video has been viewed 2.3 million times in less than a day.
American Airlines by the way is thrilled that this time it’s not them.
Your concerns are appreciated. This was another carrier.
— americanair (@AmericanAir) December 12, 2020
When the family got off the flight, the father asked that they be re-accommodated on another flight in first class. This was refused. He argued that the airline’s policy is ridiculous, since “the virus has a 99% survival rate.”
However United is very clear about their mask rules. The family should have flown Delta, which allows young children unable to wear masks not to do so. Delta flies Denver – New York JFK non-stop.
I’m in favor of mask-wearing, though most of the masks people wear aren’t very good. They may offer limited source protection. Travelers should make an effort to wear better masks. I’m not in favor of kicking off families whose two year olds can’t wear masks. The preponderance of evidence highly suggests that the risk of spread from a two year old is very low.
More problematic is that the family planned to violate New York’s coronavirus restrictions and not quarantine on arrival. The family was flying to New York for the weekend (so not long enough to be released from quarantine requirements) to go see the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center and visit with friends who were coming into the city from Cleveland. Perhaps it’s better they turned around.
I suspect that the family was refused transportation on Friday but not yet added to the list of passengers to deny future travel to, and that if they are indeed banned as they report that this will not be ‘forever’ as they believe but until the mask requirement is lifted.
Update: As I expected, despite being told by a United agent that they aren’t welcome to fly the airline, they are not actually banned. That’s not a decision made on the spot at the airport. United offers,
The health and safety of our employees and customers is our highest priority, which is why we have a multi-layered set of policies, including mandating that everyone onboard two and older wears a mask. These procedures are not only backed by guidance from the CDC and our partners at the Cleveland Clinic, but they’re also consistent across every major airline.
We are investigating this specific incident and have made contact with the family. We also refunded their tickets and returned their car seat and bags.
United’s claim, however, that their policy on two year old mask wearing is “consistent across every major airline” is not accurate. It’s similar to American’s policy and Southwest’s. However Delta’s policy says “young children who cannot maintain a face covering are exempt from the mask requirement.”
It’s United’s airline, their planes, their employees. United has the right to tell people what to do on their flights. It may be stupid or overreacting but they own the plane so they get to make their rules. Maybe these parents should buy their own plane and learn to fly it. Then they won’t have any problems when they travel and ignore state substantive quarantine orders.
The parents knowing the rules required by the airline, still boarded with a 2 year old that, would be near impossible to keep masked. They are supposing that they are entitled, and have no concern about the other passengers on the flight. When you fly, all need to comply for the safety and greater good of all aboard.
If ur kid refuses to comply, go see a Xmas tree in ur own damn neighborhood!
I will never ever fly United !
Dum Dum parents. These are your typical ” I’d rather be friended than PARENT.” So sad..
I just watched the first 5 seconds of that ‘video’… totally staged…and ‘elite’…lol…wow so you flew 25k miles on United! That’s not elite…it is the first tier of 5 levels (counting G S)…I’ve been 1K for the last 5 years and would never ever consider sitting on the pity pot like you have.
Look at all tge commies piling on the family yet it’s ok to riot and burn down LA for. Championship. Typical left scumbag hypocrites.
I’m flying United next weekend to spend with my just under 2 year old and my 11 year old. My youngest grandmothers heart is failing & she’s only seen him once in his life. She wants to see him again incase her health takes a turn for the worst. I’m terrified of United trying to kick us off. My son just barley falls below their 2 year old rule. He will be 2 in Feb. And my oldest is Autisic. Fingers crossed they aren’t assholes to us.
Hmmm did anyone notice that the United employee had a mask on BUT, it was not covering his nose so it is ok? Airlines are amazing American Airlines stewards are terrible too!
Jessica Coultrop: good luck, you will need it. Humanity has gone out the window.
To everyone else inc the columnist piling on the parents. God, you are disgusting. “comply for the safety for everyone”! Who was that kid hurting? WHO discourages masks for kids under 5 and yet here you are talking about “health”. The virus is VERY hard to catch from a young child so your health argument makes no sense.
On top of that, listen to your self. You sound like communist robots: “Blip blop, everyone needs to be the same, we cant use our minds to think on a case to case basis, blip, if i am forced to comply and suffer so should a small child”
SHAME on you.
Amazing…. scream and scream and scream in a first class east all the way from LHR-SFO and it’s ‘that’s just what kids do’ can’t get kid to keep a mask on it’s face and it’s ‘bad parenting’ and ‘shame on them for boarding a plane with a kid they couldn’t keep masked’
Never seen such hypocrisy in my life and I hang around with the frequent flyer set, the people the word schadenfreude was invented for.
The parents tried so for all you ass holes that think they where wrong take a hike !!!! Screw United airline there a bunch of ass holes I hope they go bankrupt
One airline does this, and another makes their employees work when they should be in 12 day quarantine after testing positive. What’s the END goal here folks? Stuffed planes but ok to close restaurants? We’re all gonna look back at this and realize we were sheep.
United airlines consists of liberal animals with only liberal animals working for them. Absolutely disgusting behavior by a public company no wonder they are on the blacklist for many investors. Don’t worry about united airlines, they will not be in business much longer. Seriously, they are a dying company and it’s easy to see why.
Hopefully you guys are taking the common sense fight to her IG posting. 17,000 comments from people pouring out their sympathies for these JO’s. The more I watch this video the more these two bother me. Dude can’t wear his mask right and that entitlement for first class while mask under nose just boils my blood. Go fly NetJets you entitled pricks!
They should be ashamed for using the 2 year old as the scapegoat to their poor decision making to travel with a kid who clearly Isn’t going to wear a mask which is a rule (silly rule but it’s United’s sandbox), and have zero regard for New York quarantine. Silly rules or not, they should accept the fact they pushed the envelope with a no tolerance policy and got busted.
Remember when we were free.
Well looks like your none compliant 2 year old got your buts kicked off the flight. Dad’s not even wearing his mask correctly. Parents today want to be cool and there child’s friend. 2 she’s ready for a f n cell phone..
We will never fly United ever again!!! Let’s see if we can an example out of them and put them out of business!
Well looks like your none compliant 2 year old got your buts kicked off the flight. Dad’s not even wearing his mask correctly. Parents today want to be cool and there child’s friend. 2 she’s ready for a f n cell phone..
It’s best that the airline stays consistent with enforcing the mask policy. If at any point they begin to make exceptions on a case by case basis, that allows for discrimination and privilege to take hold. No matter if the customer is 2 or 60, no mask then you do not get to fly! It’s simple.
Public airlines have been polluting the atmosphere, controlling oil prices, spreading diseases across the planet, and passengers still complain when the airline doesn’t steal their money?
Pathetic by united.
99% survival rate? That is a baseless comment. Ignorant, entitled and selfish! Over 290,000 dead Americans is okay? Stay home!
Poor american babies…lol…We have a 1 1/2 yr.old that wore his mask for 4 hours east to west.
coast domestically,12 hours to China. Then 4 hrs to his final destination.All with his grandmother. Nobody forced or coerced him! His parents were intelligent enough to prepare & familiarize him with mask wearing at home.Are ALL American babies stupid? Obviously NOT! But some American parents are obviously proof that U can’t fix stupid,whiney,or entitled idiots..lol…i wonder if they always let the 2 yr.old “call the shots “..lol…mealy mouth whiners like these are little wonder why USA makes up 5% of world’s population & has 25% of the world’s Covid19 cases. 5% of the world,yet make up 25% of the world’s energy carbon footprint too! 0.05% of the US population volunteers to serve this country. Following the decline of the Roman Empire is the path this country is ON! Reversing these trends is the ONLY way” America will be great!” again.YES! Mandatory service to country for ALL 18-25 yr.olds ,male& female! 1-2 years In social OR military service programs is the ONLY way this trend will be reversed! Confused? Find any 75+ yr.old citizens left & ask them how we unified as a nation to become the world’s dominant superpower! ONLY way we will ever make “America great again!” In the meantime we are in decline
Selfish idiots got what they deserved. As if silver status means anything. Hope they are actually banned for life. All the anti mask, trumper morons can suck it.
If I’m supposed to feel outraged at United, I’m not- at least over this. Lol
Daddy’s flippant remarks about the survival rate of covid, and then demanding first class speaks volumes. Sorry, you know the rules. We are months into this now. Unfortunately some people think the rules are for other people.
If you would have been having her wear a mask for the last 9 months this would not have been an issue. My 2 year old grandson wears his all the time without hesitation. His parents have made it a standard thing he has to do and has explained to him as well as a 2 year old can understand that it’s to keep him from getting really sick. The father says “you realize the virus is 99% curable right? ” which leads me to believe they only wear the mask when required to as they don’t believe the virus is deadly. I don’t know anyone who is risking flying with a child right now, so either risk it by complying or don’t fly
Coming from a United employee, this mess needs to stop. Most of us are cool, look away or pretend the toddler is just a big baby. We work with these overzealous clowns that want to be heroes. Anytime I encounter them Im happy to put them in check. Don’t be afraid to fly on our airline, just bring lots of skittles so in case your child encounters one of these overzealous assholes they can’t do anything about it. Sorry to all the families having to drive days because they are afraid of this bs policy
No sympathy for these people. No 60+ year old would be comfortable nor safe. Why should they be the exception? They knew the rules. Stay home if your child has a problem keeping the mask on and don’t inconvenience everyone else on the flight.
Yes, we will all be in decline and go down hill because you designated mask/word police/ thought police/ business police/etc. and followed like a bunch of dumb sheep! But, this is brilliant! Thank you to all the Democrats and Never- Trumpers!
Pitty pot for sure. I side with United 100% Parents think they can break the rules with their misbehaving children who were not prepared to fly to begin with.
Judging by some of these comments some people are just not taking Covid-19 seriously and that is
why the US leads the world in cases and deaths with the numbers increasing
daily. Tough rules have to be enforced to keep people safe. Wake up !
This should not have happened and is another example of airline employees being unable to exercise “common sense” and think on their feet when confronted with a situation which doesn’t exactly fit the rules. The possibility of a two year old baby being able to spread covid-19 is practically zero whether wearing a mask or not. Everyone loses in this situation, the family, the other passengers, and the airline itself.
THAT LITTLE GIRL IS MY HERO AND SO ARE HER PARENTS FOR NOT FORCING HER TO WEAR A FACE DIAPER THAT THE WORLD HAS ADOPTED TO SHOW IT’S SUPREME STUPIDITY OF ACQUIESCENCE !
First off, a 99% survival rate with full spread to the population (which would occur eventually without mitigation) means over 6 million American lives.
Secondly, airlines only have to have no-tolerance rules because such a large percentage of the population refuse to wear masks to protect their fellow Americans. If all people would reasonably could wear a mask did so, there would not be hard rules and such incidents would not occur.
Stay home why is everyone getting on a plane it’s so stupid right now or drive I have driven ny to Az countless times .
These parents were aware of the rules. They should have been working with their child to wear a mask. It is difficult to get a 2 year old to comply with anything the don’t want to do. So the other option would be to check into other means of travel. Or as many of us do…DRIVE, I have flown all over lots of times, I enjoy it, until there are passengers that have crying children the entire way, or drunk unruly passengers.
It doesn’t make flying fun for the remaining passengers to have their flights held at the gate because of non compliance.
@YELLOWHAWK, Airlines can no longer say its their planes, without taxpayers footing 100s of billions during this very pandemic. All airlines would have long declared bankruptcy.
Dear Donna in decline , U missed the point! U are part & parcel & in lockstep of our present decline! Had our forebears been egocentric ignorant idiots like U. ALL top scientific studies & standards & language worldwide would still be in German.As they were before WW2! I’d hate to defend in WE & make this country great again with the likes of U! Sacrifice 4 the greater good in decline too! “Ignorance is a choice in the information age” Selfish sheep like U, can ONLY $urvive in a country like ” OURS” as we spiral down into the laziest,fattest,egocentric & ignorant through choice …specimens on the planet
Regardless of what the parents did, their reasons, or their motivations, the airline could have handled this situation better. Children are unpredictable, especially that young. Sometimes they do as they are told, and other times they just won’t. For sure the planes are not fully loaded at this point. Airline should provide a specific section where those with children who are unable to wear a mask can sit during the flight.
The whole argument against masks is stupid since the porousness of any mask allows particles 10X larger than THE virus pass through. In addition, requiring a 2-yr old to wear a mask when they cannot get the virus or pass the virus also denies science. Sooooo, it is STUPID to support UNITED and all you who do are just helpless and stupid as our politicians want you to be.
Everyone in this comment section is an idiot. Do research. United airlines website states masks are required by anyone OVER the age of 2. There’s no reason these people should have been kicked off the plane. They were following United airlines rules.
@BlackHill – You are spot on! This is the 3rd time in less than 20 years that the taxpayer has stepped up and bailed out the poorly run airlines with their childish union leadership. And there is probably going to be another bailout. IMO we are headed for an economic crash that will make the 30’s a day in the park.
Selfish woman. People are dying of this terrible virus and she feels her family are above regulations and policy. What if that family is contagious- disgusting that her family’s little vacation is more important than someone’s LIFE! WOW. Seems a little questionable- taking pictures of your 2 year old refusing to wear a mask – They would have known in advance. The mother’s tears looked like crocodile tears (fake tears). I’ll bet money that she’s going to sue – seems she may have had it thought out before hand. Shame on her for not taking others safety and risk to other passengers families with any consideration. If policy is 2 years old – POLICY IS TWO YEARS OLD! Wear masks and save lives – period!!!!!
Why the f are people flying with babies and toddlers right now? If it’s *that* important to go, they should drive to their destination. Even from LA to NY it’d only take a couple days. I’m so tired of hearing about parents and their toddlers getting kicked off flights. Of course toddlers aren’t going to comply. For now, either drive or stay home, unless you’re going outside the US.. it’s not worth the anxiety.
Absolutely no sympathy for the family. If you’re upset you can’t take your child to see a Christmas tree in NYC using public transport, then rent a freakin private jet.
So if a policeman allowed me to speed four times before but now I’m caught, does that make him bad for enforcing rules? Yes large companies can be inconsistent. All of us readers who fly regularly know that. But these silver elites clearly have other expectations of reality.
Boo hoo. Take your little Princess to see a Christmas tree at the mall like the rest of America. Be glad you still have a job and money and can travel unlike an extremely sickening and growing amount of people in the US whose lives have been turned upside down this year.
Good job United. Even if your staff didn’t enforce it a few times before (allegedly, of course, per the customer side of the story), I’m glad you enforced it this time.
2009 United Breaks Guitars
2017 United Breaks Asian’s Face
2020 United Breaks mother’s heart.
The WHINING in this country is truly epic. Keep your snotty little brat at home you entitled, selfish Covidiot plague monkeys!
Christian Cherniss, you sound like a typical rightwing Trumper who attends KKK meetings to learn about the virus