WARNING! If you're flying nowadays...
 

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Oh Oh. I'm flying SWA to West coast then Midwest and back home next month.
Mental note - Only drop mask to take a sip, take a bite - then IMMEDIATELY back.
Follow Directives to a T, or....


Man says he was kicked off Southwest flight for failing to put his mask on — between bites of food.

One minute Avi Mandel was minding his own business on a Southwest Airlines plane before takeoff this weekend and eating a box of Twizzlers — and the next minute, he was kicked off the Florida-bound flight.

Mandel told WBZ-TV that he had been a frequent Southwest customer — that is until his Sunday flight from Thurgood Marshall Baltimore Washington International Airport to Fort Lauderdale.

While waiting for the flight to take off, Mandel told the station he got hungry and opened a pack of Twizzlers — and naturally when one eats, a mask makes that kind of awkward. So he removed his mask.

Then a flight attendant told Mandel he had to put his mask on, WBZ said, and he recalled that she "kind of, like, ran away. And I'm like, 'Oh, I guess she didn't know I was eating.' Then I hear on the loudspeaker, 'Everyone who's eating has to wear mask in between bites.'"
Suddenly, the plane returned to the gate, and a security team entered the plane to escort Mandel off, he told the station.
There was no drama. Mandel told WBZ he remained calm and respectful despite feeling embarrassed — but other passengers stuck up for him.

He showed the station video of passenger Stephanie Misiaszek telling the security team, "That is so wrong. He did nothing wrong. Wow."

The team was also told, "He was eating. Oh my God."

After departing the plane, Mandel appeared on a video clip saying, "I, Avi Mandel, just got kicked off a plane because I wasn't wearing my mask in between my bites while I was eating."
Mandel told WBZ he was rebooked on the next flight to Florida Monday morning but won't fly Southwest again any time soon.

"It was absurd," he told the station. "The way I was treated was absolutely absurd. It was crazy, and it wasn't fair."

Mandel added to WBZ that "there was no warning of it, there was no explanation, there was nothing. It was just a matter of, like, 'I don't like you; get off the plane.'"

After he emailed Southwest, the station said he learned that a new federal mask mandate went into effect in February requiring passengers to wear face masks at all times — including "in between bites."

"If I knew this rule ahead of time, I would have happily listened, but I had no clue," Mandel told WBZ.
The Transportation Security Administration told the station that airline passengers can remove masks while eating, drinking, or taking medications — but they must put them on between bites and sips and cannot leave them off for "prolonged periods."

Mandel maintained to WBZ that the rule that got him kicked off the flight wasn't addressed beforehand.

"I think it could be handled a lot better, and I think the rule could have been placed better," he told the station. "I always do follow the rules. I'm on their plane, I get it. But this was not a rule I knew of, and it wasn't explained to me. I didn't see it anywhere at that point, so to me, it wasn't a rule that I was breaking. Had I known, I obviously would have done it differently, but you got to tell someone the rule in order for them to follow it."

A Southwest spokesperson told WBZ in a statement that while the airline regrets "any inconvenience caused, the face covering policy is communicated throughout the booking and check-in process, and it's the responsibility of their crew to enforce federal regulations."

Baltimore County Man Says He Was Kicked Off Southwest Flight For Not Wearing Mask While Eating Twizzlers
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There are always 3 sides to stories, his, theirs, and the facts.

I just flew, last month, to Ecuador and back over a 3 week period. I found the airlines and airports to be taking excellent precautions and very willing to discuss rules and help passengers.

I expect there was some confrontation occurring that is not covered on the account.

But, I don't know, maybe the airline just wanted to p**s off a paying customer.

BTW, it was made VERY clear before and during the flight that any violations of masking and separation would result in eviction from the flight and banning any future flights. This was driven home to me over and over again during booking, security, and boarding.

In all fairness, we have no idea when this man last ate.

Nuts!

Medication is a different thing, he said he was hungry. Not a good enough excuse in my book for not following the rules ... he was allowed to eat IF he put his mask on between bites... but no, .... therefore, once more, entitled brat!

This is getting out of hand
 

It’s almost laughable. They can seat you elbow to elbow, but you can’t eat or drink like a human. Feel like you are ruled by Hitler.....

No, I think it was Twizzlers.:duck:

Does anyone know if you can wear a shield or does it have to be a mask?

On my recent trip, I saw many people wearing shields and masks, I saw no one wearing just a shield. The "'rules" are that you have to wear a mask, the shield I believe was optional.

You have made up your mind that people want to deprive you of some god-given rights. I am sorry you feel that way.

Assuming the passengers is telling us the truth why would they not ask him to please put mask on between bites before kicking him off the plane ?

Just because they are part of the worldwide conspiracy to take away all our rights. They have no interest in making customers happy, and could care less about bad press.

Off topic, but I love Tom Petty too.

Airlines can be pretty strict. About 10 years ago I was flying to Florida. I had a cold and I wore a SARS type mask on the plane with my hoodie on my head as I felt chilled. The plane would not leave the run way. After a delay of about an hour, finally a flight attendant came up to me and said my passport didn’t match my name on the ticket. There was a middle initial on my passport which was not on my ticket. They checked me out very thoroughly. I am sure it was because I was wearing a mask and a black hoodie. And I was wearing my mask to keep others from catching my cold! .... They let me stay on after all and the plane took off.

SW is saying that they apprise their passengers of the mask wearing policy before they board the plane. Maybe that means that the passengers receive something in writing at check in, maybe there are signs posted about masking between bites.

This mask between bites thing started in February and it's possible that SW has instructed their attendants to call security rather than try to enforce the rule themselves.

SW is probably worried about getting shut down if they don't enforce the policy, yet, they are concerned about placing their attendants into potentially contentious situations with passengers. It's sort of a no win situation all around.

Maybe he just fasted for 40 days? No humans can fast for 40 days. If they do their eating something unless they got Iv feeding tube.

So people can’t go hour with sticking something in there mouth. It’s called eating disorder.

.. or a medical condition.

According to both sides (as reported in the one article) the eating wasn't the problem. The problem was a miscommunication, following the rules by the passenger, an overreaction by the flight attendant, or likely some of all three.

Because flight attendants are freaking out in a daily basis...

This isn't the first time something like this has happened.

Recently a family was kicked off a flight because their (just over) 2 yo threw a tantrum about wearing a mask...

If you are "under two" you don't have to wear one. I'm sure the few months made all the difference in the world...

I just flew SW last Wednesday, an no one said a word about putting your mask back on between bites or sips of a drink. I kept my mask off while I ate my Chex Mix and drank my Diet Coke (so did others on the plane) and no one said a word... I had no idea about the new guidelines

Apparently, it's in the fine print you get with your booking documents...

You know, the stuff no one ever reads?

What about a cross country flight? Or a flight to Europe/Asia?

I swear, the judgmental attitudes I see on this Forum are astounding...

Unfortunately, this pandemic is not yet over, and wearing a mask indoors in close proximity to others still makes sense. I flew on SW about a month ago and there is no difficulty putting a mask back on between bites. However, the part that doesn't make sense was filling 175 out 0f 175 seats with a stranger's face 2 1/2 feet away, which violates the still in effect 6 foot indoor guidelines from the CDC, but then enforcing the bite to bite masking.

Then going back to filling the middle seats made no sense, either...

The entire terminal requires "social distancing", but once you' board the plane? Packed in like sardines...

Yep, there is no great way to enforce an idiotic rule like this. Probably best to just "not notice" when a passenger dares to take three bites in a row w/o masking.

I am so ready for this nonsense to end, lol.

What?? Did they card the kid? How did they know the child was over 2?

If the flight attendants are expected to enforce idiotic rules, you can't blame them for doing their jobs. Blame the idiots who made the idiotic rules.

Sounds like multiple layers of miscommunication and over-reaction. At least the guy was eating Twizzlers. Pre-pandemic, a guy seated behind me opened a can of tuna 5 minutes into a 2-hour flight and made the plane smell like a fish processing plant. I didn't need to say anything, several passengers got on the guy's case within seconds. Turns out, the guy was on a keto diet. I didn't get that mad, because I knew I'd have a story to tell, like I'm doing now.

:ohdear: Pleeeeeese, is there really a meal on any commercial flight worth getting upset about not being able to eat!!!!!! If you have a medical condition take food with you (Brother is a major diabetic, flies multi flights a week and takes his own food just in case). You probably should not be eating an airline meal anyway.

This is so silly. I’ve flown several times for work. They serve you food, the seat next to you blocked. Nobody had to tell me to put my mask up in between bites or drinks. My common sense was all i needed to know that was what to do. I also doubt this is true, first, they kicked him off when? Mid flight? Because that’s when the food is served. Did he bring his own food and start eating before take off?

I doubt you read the OP correctly. It was prior to take-off, and he brought his own box of twizzlers. Also it was Southwest Airlines; they haven't blocked the middle seats since early March, the flights are packed like cattle cars.

So the airline had every right to remove him for not complying with their rules. However, I think this in between bites masking policy is pretty stupid. Show me a medical study that shows this has any value. Then, since you are in a sardine can with your mouth 2- 2 1/2 feet from the next mouth, do you have to synchronize your bite with your neighbor so no two masks are down at the same time? Particularly hard if you are in the middle seat and have 2 neighbors to synchronize with. In addition, you spend 1 hour plus in a terminal where you better stay 6 feet away from everyone else, until.....you board a plane (translation: airlines make $$$ off packing a plane, terminals do not). Just wait for the chaos when the airlines require proof of vaccination.

I routinely fly Southwest between Pittsburgh and Orlando and they constantly announce the mask policy, almost an absurd amount of announcements

Well, the passengers back up his story, maybe read the whole story again and pay attention this time. He was put on another flight suggesting he wasn’t banned for life and facing a lengthy prison sentence for nonconforming, so it sounds like the flight attendant may have just been a grumpy old woman.

judge not lest ye be judged. You must have missed this one during your scripture readings.

I doubt the accuracy of that story. I flew Southwest on Saturday. Masks are mandatory, thank goodness, but no excess enforcement.

Same here - it is a SW thing. That's why I never fly them, Frontier, Spirit, etc. All the real airlines are serving meals now and drinks, etc.. Don't fly in cattlecars.

And I fly on middle-seat blocked flights only if I can.

And for people who say 'can't he wait awhile to eat' are exactly the kind of people I will never socialize with. Ignorant comments.

Perhaps he had a blood sugar problem. I am surprised that a warning wasn’t given so he could comply. Zero tolerance policy I guess. Hard candy solves this. I wonder if he was fully vaccinated.

I have low bp and constantly drink water, especially on flights. Guess I’ll delay flying for a few months.

There’s no medical condition that requires Twizzlers.

Can’t wait to see the PBS Frontline story 10 years from now on all this speculation and adverse effects of the shots.....
BTW airline attendants either live with their parents or 5 roommates - same pay scale as Wendy’s .....

Some people are always looking for an argument.

Been flying Southwest every other week for the last year. Never seen any Southwest action like that. Sounds untrue

I read of a similar event, different airline (AA), where a pastor/speaker was flying from Texas to Green Bay, WI. He said he followed ALL the rules but asked for water. Took the mask down to take a sip---nothing more---mask went back on. When he came to the airport for the return trip and picking up his boarding passes---he was flagged and told he wasn't being allowed to fly. He tried to speak with supervisors and even called corporate to no avail. NO ONE would or could tell him what his infraction was! Oh--and he was told he'd not ever be able to fly their airline again!! He had to pay $600.00 for a return ticket, different airline to get home.
Remember when we'd see photos of people social distancing in the airport only to get on the plane and sitting, packed in? THIS doesn't make a bit of sense to me. I guess the virus is polite and only contageous when a mask isn't in place.

My flight attendant friend tells me that passengers will try and nurse a drink for the entire flight to avoid putting on a mask.

I’m sure there’s more to this story.