An American Airlines passenger is accusing the airline of mishandling and mistreating her after she was allowed to board a flight wearing only a face shield.
Ditto Tamer said a breathing condition prevents her from being able to wear a mask and alleges that on Friday AA staff at both the ticket counter and gate allowed her to board with just a face shield.
But once on the flight, she said the flight crew confronted her and said she had to wear a mask.
“I was so shocked because I had gotten approval all the way through,” said Tamer. “I started to cry and a lot of the reason was I didn’t know how I was going to breathe in that thing.”
On July 29 American Airlines instituted a revised policy requiring face coverings in all airport areas.
In a statement to NBCDFW, American Airlines also disputed Tamer’s story:
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
“While traveling on American Airlines flight 2724 from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to John Wayne Airport in Orange County (SNA) on July 31, passenger Ditto Tamer wore a face shield but declined to wear a face-covering over her nose and mouth. Ms. Tamer eventually did comply to the face-covering requirement, but subsequently wore the face-covering incorrectly mid-flight citing a medical condition for her noncompliance. After the flight, our Customer Relations Disability specialist carefully reviewed the incident and advised Ms. Tamer on the phone that she is required to cover her mouth and nose while on board.
We are committed to protecting the safety and well-being of our customers and team members, which is why we strengthened enforcement of our policy for required face coverings on board. We expect customers who choose to fly with us to comply with these policies, and if necessary, we will deny future travel for customers who refuse to do so.”
Tamer, meanwhile, said the experience was traumatic and believes passengers with medical breathing conditions should not be forced to wear a mask.
“I never want to put people in danger and respect anyone’s view on this and therefor I went to such great lengths to make sure I was covered,” said Tamer.
*Map locations are approximate, central locations for the city and are not meant to indicate where actual infected people live.
