A FAMILY was booted off an United Airlines flight and banned from flying with the company after their distressed toddler refused to wear a mask.
The two-year-old’s parents, who were masked themselves, had been struggling to get one on the infant when a flight attendant ordered them off the plane.
Eliz Orban and her husband boarded the jet from Denver to Newark with their little girl called Edeline.
But the child refused to comply with the Covid rules about wearing masks.
An eagle-eyed flight attendant then came up to them and announced they were being booted from the jet.
Eliz said her husband explained he was trying to get the mask on, but they still kicked off the flight.
Worse still, United Airlines would not remove their luggage from the cargo hold which included their daughter’s car seat.
And Eliz says United has permanently banned them from flying.
Posting about her trauma on Instagram, she said: “This just happened seven hours ago and I am still sitting here in confusion, disbelief, disgust and humiliation.
“We were asked to leave the plane after it had rolled out, and they had to bring it back to the gate, because our two-year-old daughter would not comply and keep her mask on.
”What blows my mind even more is that the WHO recommends against face masks for kids under the age of five.”
She added: “Since our bags weren’t taken off the plane (they did get our child seat) – we have to wait until tomorrow till they deliver it to our house.”
United Airlines told Sun Online: “The health and safety of our employees and customers is our highest priority, which is why we have a multi-layered set of policies, including mandating that everyone onboard two and older wears a mask.
“These procedures are not only backed by guidance from the CDC and our partners at the Cleveland Clinic, but they’re also consistent across every major airline.
“We are investigating this specific incident and have made contact with the family. We also refunded their tickets and returned their car seat and bags.”
It comes as mum Kaley Justice said that after her family was kicked off an Alaska Airlines flight Monday and forced to buy tickets on another airline.
She said her seven-month-old son called Finn kept pulling off her face mask while breastfeeding and she had a hard time getting it back on.
After the baby became upset, she started breastfeeding to calm him down.
Kaley told NBC: “I was discreet. I wasn’t like crazy-topless or anything like that. I was covered,.
“[Finn] kept ripping my mask off because, he’s like, ‘Mom’s under there. Peekaboo!
“What the heck is going on? I want to see your face.'”
Justice said she struggled to keep it on and hold onto her baby but was asked to leave the plane.
She said: “I never once removed it.
“It was very bizarre. I just don’t know. I felt targeted, genuinely.”
