A British nurse was banned from her flight home from Turkey after her daughter briefly removed her face mask on the plane in order to eat her sandwich.
As 35-year-old Charlotte Snook from the UK explained, she booked an all-inclusive trip to Marmaris, Turkey, together with her daughters.
While on the Tui flight to the country, one of the daughters allegedly briefly removed her mask in order to finish off her sandwich. As her nurse mother explained, however, the staff became upset with them and gave them a list of coronavirus rules.
“We weren’t given any notice. The stewardess just told Olivia to put her mask on and later slapped a piece of paper down in front of me with their coronavirus rules,” Snook explained in an interview with The Sun.
“I pointed out the rules do say you’re allowed to eat with your mask off but there were no raised voices, I didn’t swear and I told Olivia to put her mask back on.”
After the incident, Tui Airways banned the emergency nurse from her flight home, meaning that the mother was forced to scramble to find an alternative way back home.
While the airline in question eventually reversed their ban, they insisted that Snook was “consistently not wearing her mask on the flight and was told several times by our crew to wear one.”
Speaking of the unpleasant traveling experience, the nurse added:
“They told me ‘your daughters can still get on the flight’ but what were they meant to do when they got there? I didn’t know what we were going to do, I can’t afford to pay for three or four new flights.”
After the nurse’s story went viral and The Sun contacted TUI for an explanation, the airline apologized to Snook and undid the ban which prevented her from flying back home together with her daughters.
Admitting their mistake in a statement to MailOnline, TUI spokesperson said:
“After receiving further information following the flight, we have decided to allow Ms Snook to travel on her planned inbound flight home and she has been notified of this.
“Our crew report from the flight reported that Ms Snook was given multiple reminders to wear her mask. We’re sorry for any confusion caused.
“It is incredibly important for passengers to follow all instructions given by our cabin crew as this is for the health and safety of everyone onboard. Passengers are informed prior to travel and on their flight that they have to wear masks throughout and they are asked to limit movement around the cabin. Masks can only be removed when consuming food and drink or if a customer is medically exempt.”
Replaced!