Posted on by Californiacontrarian

Flying Karens

As I was just settling into my seat on the airline, I heard the following announcement, “Is there a Karen onboard?” Now granted, I had not flown in a while but I thought that it was pretty bizarre that the airlines was referring to passengers by their first names. Although I cannot state for sure whether one or more Karens responded, the next thing I knew the stewardess came marching down the aisle to address those who were sitting in the row behind me – this one family had taken all three seats on either side of the aisle – two adults and four young children. 

“No exceptions. Company policy! She must get off!” The stewardess then pointed to the two year old little girl in the middle seat who was sitting between her mommy and daddy.

Wow I thought, something very egregious must have happened. Even though my hearing is not the best, the stewardess’s harsh tone and increased volume made the gist of the problem pretty clear. The two year old in the middle seat would not keep her face mask on! I surmised that it was apparently important for all the Karens on board to hear what the stewardess was saying, and thus the loudness and harsh tone!

Personally, I didn’t care if the kid wore a mask or not, but I thought I could hear the Karens murmuring, “the nerve of that little brat.” 

Anyway the stewardess then escorted the family of six off the plane. At one point I wondered whether or not armed airline marshalls would be needed! But not so, as the family was more than cooperative. While the father was trying to corral three of the children down the aisle, the mother calmly said, “She is only two, and an independent two at that.” 

At that point I thought back to when my kids were young . . . No way in hell would a certain one of them have worn a mask at age two. Even today I have an independent-minded two year old granddaughter, who I could easily see saying,”no” to wearing a face mask.

I later learned that each individual airline carrier has their own set of rules addressing mask compliance. The FAA has apparently not stepped forward on this, so each individual airline now has its own set of arbitrary rules. I can see not allowing an adult to fly without wearing a mask, but a two year old!? Are you kidding me?

Another ludicrous airline-mask tale involved a three year old autistic child who would not let anything or anybody touch his face. This child had a doctor’s note, that explained the unfortunate child’s situation . . . but to no avail. “Strong work airline, punish an autistic child and his mother! Kick them off the flight!”

FYI: According to the local “ newspaper,” the two airlines involved in the above child-mask stories were Jet Blue and Southwest! Perhaps we could write each of those airlines and tell them to apply for a name change . . . “Karen Airline” might be apropos!

I did just write a letter to the Customer Relations Dept. at SWA asking whether kicking a three year old autistic child off a plane traveling from Midland to Houston for not wearing a mask was an example of their new kind of LUV!

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