Frontier Airlines is under a microscope after kicking a Hasidic family off a flight. Passengers claimed the incident was sparked by a baby under the age of two not wearing a mask. Frontier issued a statement blaming the passengers and denying that the issue was the baby. “Members of a large group, including adults, refused to wear masks,” they wrote on Twitter.
Videos of the event show all the adults wearing masks.
“This is the baby that’s one year old,” says a man to the camera.
“Because the baby’s not wearing a mask?” says another.
“Why are you deplaning them?” says another passenger. “This is an anti-Semitic act! Jew-haters!” yells another.
“We were sitting in the back,” says a woman who is getting kicked off. “The little kids wanted to eat and they took off their masks for a few minutes [to eat].
The following Twitter thread posted by the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council (OJPAC) has many videos. OJPAC is accusing Frontier of anti-Semitism.
Passengers who were eyewitnesses also reported what sounds like shocking anti-Semitism from Frontier Airlines’ flight attendants.
A male witness unrelated to the family reported that he got thrown off the flight for videoing. “She’s throwing me off the plane because I was taking videos,” he said. “I saw them high-fiving each other and saying ‘job well done to those Jews.'”
A female witness who also did not appear to be related to the family reported the same story. “They were telling them they don’t have masks, a family of three…I saw them all coming on board with masks. They started to scream at me [and tell me] to sit down and then they all high-fived each other and said ‘We did it!'”
A third male witness also said that the Frontier staff acted badly.
OJPAC is not happy with Frontier’s statement and claims that their wording is anti-Semitic. Frontier’s statement in full reads:
Members of a large group, including adults, refused to wear masks as flight 2878 was preparing for departure from MIA-LGA. Repeated requests to comply with federal law necessitated their removal from the flight. The issue did not stem from a child under 2.
OJPAC says this kind of language serves to separate and target Jews as a group. “Many of the 12 people in the last two rows as part of the alleged ‘large group’ are ‘related’ by all being Hasidic.” OJPAC continued, “It’s mind-boggling that @FlyFrontier rushed out with a tweet that echos the alleged bigoted behavior of staff.”
It is strange that Frontier did not issue a more circumspect response that would include ordering an investigation into the claim before making a statement blaming the upset passengers. Whatever happened on that flight distressed far more people than just the ones kicked off, including people who did not know the family being removed.
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