© ScreencaptureOther passengers on the JetBlue flight rallied in support of the mother
Flight attendants ordered Chaya Bruck of Midwood to get off the Newark-bound plane after her daughter Dina refused to keep the face covering on — and when the desperate mom tried to explain the tot wasn't cooperating, the attendants told all of the passengers to get off the aircraft.
"It was horrible, the whole experience was traumatizing," Bruck told the Daily News from Orlando International Airport, where she and her children were still stranded Wednesday afternoon.
"I was trying very hard...(The other children) were wearing their masks with their noses covered," she said. "It says (on JetBlue's website) that a child who cannot wear a mask does not have to wear a mask. I tried to tell them this, but they didn't care...They wanted me off the plane.
"(The other passengers) were sticking up for me....All of my kids were crying. I was shaking...It was inhumane."
JetBlue strengthened its policy on face coverings earlier this month, noting that passengers must cover their noses and mouths in order to board. That rule did not apply to children 2 years old or younger.
The airline company updated its Travel Alerts page Wednesday at 2 p.m. according to the timestamp on its website. The policy says "all travelers 2 years and older must wear a face covering over their nose and mouth throughout their journey."
A spokesman for JetBlue said the policy on face coverings was actually updated Aug. 10 to include 2-year-olds.
Comment: A post-incident interview with Ms. Bruck.
"During these unprecedented times, our first priority is to keep crew members and customers safe, and we've quickly introduced new safety policies and procedures throughout the pandemic," said JetBlue spokesman Derek Dombrowski. "Children age 2 and over must wear a face covering, consistent with CDC guidelines, which say, "masks should not be worn by children under the age of 2."
The ordeal first began 10 days ago when the mom boarded a JetBlue plane to Orlando, and one of the attendants — who was also on Wednesday's flight — argued with her about 2-year-old Dina wearing the face covering.
"The minute he saw me today, he recognized me," Bruck said. "I heard him tell the other stewardesses about me."
"They came over to me and told me my daughter was 3 years old," she added. "I told them she's 2...I know how old my child is, she's going to be 3 in September.
The flight attendants walked away — but moments later, another woman who works for JetBlue came over to Bruck and gave her an ultimatum.
"She said, 'Are you getting off the plane or are you staying?" Bruck said. "I told her, 'I'm not going, I want to go home'...But she just kept repeating (the question.)"
Other passengers began yelling at the attendant, cell phone footage obtained by The News shows.
"Leave her alone!" one woman called out as several passengers stood up in their seats to record the incident.
"They were really nasty," passenger Chardette Poinsette told The News. "(Bruck) said, 'I'm going to get her to put the mask on' and that wasn't enough for them."
"She was crying, I felt so bad," Poinsette added. "None of them offered to help her with anything."
Bruck said she never dreamed that flying back home would be such a nightmare.
"I wasn't making any trouble," she said. "Why did we have to experience such a thing?...I am a woman flying alone with six children...They didn't care."
Chelsia Rose Marcius is the criminal justice reporter at the New York Daily News. She is also the author of Wild Escape: The Prison Break from Dannemora and the Manhunt that Captured America. When she's not out reporting, Chelsia teaches aspiring journalists at New York University.
Comment: JetBlue's corporate image is not faring well:
Mindless authoritarian followers were also out in force:
with the equally mindless identity politics, including 'antisemitism', not far behind: