Man in gas mask removed from American Airlines flight

At first American Airline passengers through it was an extreme reaction to the Coronavirus scare. Photo / Ross Sokolovski, Unsplash

A passenger has been removed from a US flight for refusing to take off a military style gas mask , according to Texas media.

On Thursday a domestic flight from Dallas to Houston was disrupted after a man wearing unusual headgear sent other passengers into a panic.

Attendants reportedly told the passenger to remove the gas mask, but he refused over health reasons. The man was eventually removed from the plane, but not before the impasse delayed the flight by almost an hour.

"I looked up and saw a guy coming onto the plane wearing a full gas mask, which was kind of odd," passenger Joseph Say told Houston-based radio station KTRK.
"People start talking in the back of the plane," he said.

@AmericanAir , Just FYI flight 2212 to Houston was delayed an hour because you let this guy on the plane wearing a gas mask. This then panicked people on the plane and we had to wait for him to be escorted off. @abc13houston @KHOU @HoustonChron @KPRC2 @FOX26Houston #trainbetter pic.twitter.com/mZkWea606d

— Joseph D S❄️ (@ThePlatypusesTX) January 31, 2020

"You couldn't identify any features on him. People were worried he had sneaked something on board and that he had the mask for his own safety."

Passengers initially thought it was the passenger's extreme reaction to the coronavirus scare, or some other health concern. However the gas mask did not appear to be functional.

"I noticed it didn't have the filter, so that didn't really make sense," Mr Say told the radio station.

"What we heard from the lady sitting next to him was he said he wanted to make a statement. I don't know what the statement was."

The passenger who was booted off the plane was rebooked onto the following flight.
This time he decided not to wear the mask.

Following fears over the coronavirus outbreak the TSA has confirmed that surgical masks are allowed to be worn on planes and carried in hand luggage.

Passengers may also "wear medical masks during security screening," providing they remove the mask for identity checkpoints.

However this does not cover masks which are worn for a purely cosmetic reason or for the purpose of concealing a passenger's identity.