Flight to Bahamas canceled after students refuse to wear masks

A flight to the Bahamas leaving from North Carolina was canceled after a group of students refused to wear masks during the travel.

American Airlines Flight 893 to Nassau, Bahamas, was set to depart Monday when a group of more than 30 high school students started a mask protest that went on for hours, a local Fox News station reported.

“Some people’s vacations are ruined. They were only going for a couple of nights. Now, they have to get rebooked,” Stephanie Krzywanski, a passenger on the flight, told the news outlet.

The flight had reportedly experienced mechanical issues at first, prompting the travelers to switch planes and further delay their trip. Following the switch, the students allegedly caused a commotion.

“It was bad. First, they were yelling. They were cursing. They were being very obnoxious,” passenger Malik Banks, who was seated near the high schoolers, told the news outlet.

However, Banks said that not all of the students failed to comply with the mask rules. 

“It wasn’t all of them. I would say 75% to 80% of them were being terrible kids, saying smart stuff,” he said.

As a result of the incident, American Airlines reportedly canceled the flight. 

According to the news outlet, the flight was further delayed until Tuesday and the airline compensated stranded passengers with a hotel voucher. Many of the students had to stay the night at the airport because they were too young to get a room at a hotel.

The Hill reached out to American Airlines for comment.

“All they had to do was follow the rules, put the mask on, sit there. No smart-mouth comments. And they couldn’t do it,” passenger Christina Randolph told Fox News.