Video Of Couple, Kids Kicked Out Of Plane For Not Following Mask Policy Goes Viral; Airline Changes Tweet

A couple was briefly kicked off from a Spirit Airlines flight over their two-year-old daughter not wearing a mask. The video of the incident went viral, and soon the airline changed the wording of its tweet.

The video showed a flight attendant forcing the family, including their two-year-old daughter sitting on her mother’s lap and eating yogurt, to get off the plane for not complying with the mask rules.

Spirit Airlines initially said that the couple --Ari and Avital Eisenberg of Toms River, New Jersey -- refused to follow a federal mandate that requires airline passengers to wear masks amidst the pandemic.

The couple was accompanied by their children -- Rikki, 2, and Daniel, 7, who has special needs.

"We are aware of incorrect information circulating about Spirit Airlines Flight 138 from Orlando to Atlantic City. The flight was delayed due to the adults in the party not complying with the federal mask requirement," the original airline statement said. It noted that the family and all the passengers were taken off the plane before being allowed to board again.

The couple told Fox News that a flight attendant kicked them off the plane because Rikki was not complying with the airline's mask policy. According to the protocol, passengers aged 2 and older are required to wear a mask.

Avital, who is seven months pregnant, said she also explained that her son had frequent seizures and that covering his mouth could induce them and promised to do her best to make sure he kept the covering on.

"I told you, noncompliance — you'll have to get off. I didn't want to do this," said a flight attendant who was not the crew member who initially confronted the family.

"We're wearing masks," Avital says in the video footage of the incident.

"She's not wearing one. The pilot wants you off," the flight crew member says of the 2-year-old.

After the video showed flight crew members citing the maskless children for making the family deplane, the airline deleted a tweet with its original statement and issued a new one that omitted the word "adults."

"The flight was delayed due to compliance issues with the federal mask mandate," read the edited sentence.

It was initially reported by several outlets that a male flight attendant who originally made the request was reportedly not allowed back on the flight and was seen being escorted off the plane by Orlando Police officers.

But Spirit Airlines said, "There is also no truth to claims that police became involved with or removed a flight attendant. Orlando police have stated publicly that, though present at the gate, they did not take an active role in this situation."

Reacting strongly to the tweet by the airlines, one said, "I was on the plane. The parents were complying, and the child was eating. Most of the crew agreed there was nothing wrong. There's a reason the family was let back on the plane while the FA was kicked off."

Another tweeted, "Imagine being a company that releases an insensitive and blatantly false statement. Then when video evidence comes out that contradicts that statement, you remove it and release a new statement that in no way apologizes for your false claims. #SpiritIsTrashAlwaysHasBeen."

In the past also, Spirit Airlines had kicked off a passenger over mask rules.

An Arkansas woman said last month that Spirit Airlines kicked her son and husband off a flight because the four-year-old, who's non-verbal with autism, wasn't wearing a mask.

Callie Kimball told CBS Little Rock affiliate KTVH-TV that Carter Kimball "had a medical note from his physician stating that he's exempt from wearing masks because whenever he wears a mask he holds his breath or he starts freaking out and he will harm himself."

Callie said they've always flown with Spirit and didn't have any issues earlier. "He has a disability. It's protected under the American Disability Act and they go, 'No no no. Autism's not a disability. He has to wear a mask or he has to get off the plane.'"