London-Bound American Airlines Flight Returned To MIA After Passenger Refused To Wear A Mask

By Web Staff

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    MIAMI, Florida (WFOR) — An American Airlines London bound flight from Miami was forced to turn around Wednesday night after a passenger refused to wear a mask.

Flight 38 was about an hour and a half into its flight to Heathrow Airport when it circled back and returned to Miami International Airport.

Police dispatch called for officers to meet the plane at Gate D14 because at least one passenger was not respecting the mask mandate. Once it landed, more than 100 passengers were informed they had to get off the plane.

Many on the plane had no idea why it returned to Miami.

“Disappointed. 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,” said one passenger.

“They just told us to get off and the police were there,” said another passenger.

American Airlines issued a statement apologizing for the inconvenience.

“American Airlines flight 38 with service from Miami (MIA) to London (LHR) returned to MIA due to disruptive customer refusing to comply with the federal mask requirement. The flight landed at MIA where local law enforcement met the aircraft. We thank our crew for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”

The flight was canceled as a result of the incident, leaving these flyers to seek alternate arrangements.

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