MIAMI — A flight to London was forced to return to Miami on Wednesday because a passenger wouldn't wear a mask.
American Airlines Flight 38, which took off around 7:30 p.m. from Miami International Airport, was only about an hour into its trans-Atlantic journey when flight-tracking software shows it made an abrupt turn back toward Florida.
The nation's largest airline said the reason was that a "disruptive customer" was refusing to comply with the federal face mask requirement.
"The flight landed safely at MIA where local law enforcement met the aircraft," an American Airlines spokesperson told 10 Tampa Bay in an email. "We thank our crew for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”
A passenger aboard the widebody jet later told CBS Miami the incident was disappointing.
“They wouldn’t really say anything and I don’t think they told the flight attendants anything because all they would say is there was an extreme incident and they had to turn around," the passenger explained to the TV station.
When they landed, the nearly 130 London Heathrow-bound passengers were forced to make alternative plans because the situation ended up canceling the flight altogether.
Perhaps adding salt to the wound if any affected travelers happened to look, FlightAware lists the Boeing 777 as landing 6 hours and 21 minutes early. It won't take eagle-eyed readers long to notice that was only because the departure and arrival airports were both Miami.
American Airlines is conducting a probe into the mid-air incident. A spokesperson said the passenger who refused to wear a face covering had been added to an internal no-fly list pending further investigation.
Poor passenger behavior continues to disrupt flights across the country. Since the start of the year alone, the FAA says it has already gotten 151 reports of unruly travelers. The agency says 92 of those were related to face masks.
Back in October, an American Airlines flight attendant suffered a concussion and facial injury when she was attacked by a 20-year-old passenger from California, according to the New York Times. The flight was forced to divert to Denver, and the employee was taken off the plane on a stretcher. At the time, the newspaper said the airline called it one of the worst displays of unruly behavior it had ever seen.
