EXCLUSIVE: A New Jersey couple had to temporarily flee a Spirit Airlines flight departing from Orlando, Florida, because Atlantic City accused the budget bearer of lying when he said they – and not their young child – refused to obey a federal mask mandate.
Ari and Avital Eisenberg, from Toms River, NJ, were on Monday flight 138 with their children – Rikki (2) and Daniel (7), who have special needs – after spending a Passover holiday in Florida. Avital is also seven months pregnant.
The couple told Fox News that an air hostess kicked them out of the plane because Rikki did not comply with the airline’s mask policy, which stipulates that passengers 2 years and older must wear a mask. Avital Eisenberg said she also explained that her son gets regular seizures and that the covering of his mouth can cause it and promises to do her best to make sure he keeps the covering on.
According to a video posted on social media, a flight attendant is seen telling the family to get off the plane due to ‘non-compliance’.
‘I told you, if you do not comply, you will have to get off. I did not want to do that, ‘says an air hostess who was not the crew member who initially confronted the family.
“We wear masks,” says Avital Eisenberg.
“She is not wearing one,” said the flight crew member about the 2-year-old sitting on her mother’s lap and eating yogurt. “The pilot wants to let you go.”
“She just turned two,” says the mother.
After a few arguments, the flight attendant leaves and threatens to call the police.
“She just kept repeating that she had to take me down and I said I’m not going anywhere, I did nothing wrong,” Avital Eisenberg told Fox News. “We tried to explain that we do everything we can with the kids.”
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Other passengers can be heard coming to the family’s defense, and one man says he will make sure the family wears masks during the flight, while another woman says other young children on the flight are not wearing masks.
The female flight attendant, who allegedly spoke to the family on behalf of one of her male colleagues, says ‘it’s not my choice’ as the father claims they also have a son with special needs with them.
Additional clips posted on social media allegedly show the family getting out of their seats with other passengers, after everyone was told to get off the plane.
A Spirit spokesman told Fox News that all passengers on the plane, including the family, had boarded again after the company’s team in Orlando ensured that the family would follow the mask policy.
The airline said the parents refused to wear masks and that it was not about the children. In response, the couple told Fox News the Spirit statement was “such a lie.”
“I have no words. Madness on the next level. I understand if I gave someone attitude … but there was nothing of it. We were about to rise,” Ari Eisenberg said. “Everything was right and suddenly someone came up to us and asked us to transplant. We listened to them and had nothing to say. I kept asking what we did not comply with and nothing to say.”
Avital Eisenberg calls the experience ‘traumatic’ for her children.
“My son missed his medication window. Thank God he had no attack. He sat there in a soaking wet cloth because I could not change him during the whole affair,” she said. “My daughter is going crazy over all this. It was an awful horrible experience to go through, let alone anyone with a child with special needs.”
The male flight attendant who originally made the request before passengers began picking up was apparently not allowed to return on the flight and was seen being escorted off the plane by Orlando police officers.
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A federal mandate issued by President Joe Biden in January requires all individuals over the age of two to wear a mask on airplanes, trains and buses. The mandate was recently extended by the Federal Aviation Administration due to cases of disruptive behavior that remain ‘far too high’.
According to the TSA, penalties for violating the mandate can range from $ 250 for the first violation to up to $ 1500 for repeat offenders.
Those who are exempt from the order include travelers under the age of 2, those with a disability who cannot wear a mask, or who cannot safely wear a mask due to the disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act, and those for whom a mask would create “a risk to health, safety or workplace duties, as determined by applicable workplace safety guidelines or federal regulations.”
The Orlando Police Department did not immediately return Fox News’ requests for comment.