Family removed from flight after autistic boy refuses mask.
An Iowa family were kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight after their autistic 5-year-old son refused to wear a face mask.
Cody and Paige Petek were travelling home with their children on a flight from St. Louis to Des Moines last weekend.
Their young son, who is nonverbal and has autism and a sensory processing disorder, refused to put on a mask at the gate, prompting an airline employee to remind the family that the boy is breaking federal law.
Cody and Paige were told to have their son wear the mask otherwise they would we refused boarding.
Other passengers tried to convince the gate agents to allow the family onboard, however, the airline remained defiant in its decision.
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“He just wasn’t having it and throwing a fit,” Dr. Vince Hassel told the news station. “Just to watch this play out was absolutely horrible.”
The airline explained its reasoning in a statement illustrating that the child did not have a face mask exemption.
“Southwest Airlines considers applications for exemptions from this mask requirement from passengers with a disability who cannot wear a mask, or who cannot safely wear a mask because of the disability,” the company said in its statement to KCCI.
“In this case, a traveler was not wearing a face covering prior to boarding and did not have an exemption to the federal mask mandate.”
According to reports, the family accepted a refund before enduring a six-hour drive home in a rental car.
The family’s lawyer, Anthony Marchetti Jr, said Southwest Airlines may have violated the the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“There’s clear guidance from the department of transportation about what the airline should do,” Marchetti said. “None of that happened here.”
