Flight Attendant Allegedly Tells Mom to Glue Mask to Toddler’s Face
A Virginia woman says a Southwest Airlines flight attendant told her to glue a mask to her 2-year-old daughter’s face during a flight.
SO WHAT
Amid the pandemic, masks have become political lightning rods and even more so when kids are involved.
THE PHOTO
Ali Cleek, of Virginia Beach, described the confrontation in a message posted to Instagram on Aug. 12, the day her family flew from Orlando to Norfolk, Virginia.
View this post on Instagram
WHAT HAPPENED
According to Cleek, her daughter became “inconsolable” and “would not keep her mask on” after they boarded the plane.
- Flight attendants watched as Cleek and her husband held their daughter down in an attempt to get her to comply with federal mask mandates.
- When that didn’t work, Cleek says a flight attendant sarcastically suggested she cut a hole in the mask or “glue it to her face,” noting that glue was available on the plane.
Quote: “I don’t like being this person. Wearing a mask is the federal mandate… I get it. I respect it. But at some point we have to have human decency. Compassion,” Cleek said on Instagram. “I really don’t have words….. I’m still shaking. And pray to God no one has this kinda situation happen to them.”
THE AFTERMATH
Cleek told Fox News she felt embarrassed by the exchange and was “trying to follow the mandate as much as I could.”
- According to Fox News, Southwest Airlines has since apologized to Cleek and said “they would essentially talk to the flight crew.”