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An international flight was canceled recently after a group of high school students refused to wear masks.
Passengers were awaiting their flight from Charlotte Douglas International Airport to the Bahamas on Monday (July 5) when the flight was delayed by mechanical problems. As they were finally about to depart for Nassau, a new problem arose: A group of high school students from the Boston-area were refusing to wear masks, a confrontation that lasted for hours, WSOC reports.
"It was bad," said Malik Banks, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 893. "First, they were yelling. They were cursing. They were being very obnoxious."
Banks said the group had more than 30 students, but not all of them participated in the "rebellion." The ones who did, however, abruptly changed the plans for the rest of the flight.
"Some people's vacations are ruined," said Stephanie Krzywanski, fellow passenger. "They were only going for a couple of nights. Now, they have to get rebooked."
She continued, "Everyone has to follow the rules. Nobody likes it. Nobody wants to sit around and do this, but you've got to follow the rules."
While many areas of the country no longer have regulations mandating masks, the Centers for Disease Control requires facial coverings to be worn on all flights due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and the increasingly reported Delta variant.
American Airlines delayed the original flight until Tuesday (July 6), providing hotel vouchers for passengers who were stranded in Charlotte. However, the students, the news outlet reports, had to stay in the airport since they were too young to get a hotel room.
No one was arrested during the incident.