Young children pose a dilemma for airlines with mask rules

Two recent incidents involving young children who refused to wear face masks show how airlines are struggling to balance safety with compassionate treatment of all their customers during a pandemic. JetBlue forced a woman and her six children off a plane this week when her 2-year-old daughter wouldn’t keep her mask on. “It was horrible, the whole experience was traumatizing,” the mother, Chaya Bruck, said from the airport in Orlando, Florida, where the Brooklyn family was stranded. Last week, a Texas woman said Southwest booted her family off a plane after one of the children, a 3-year-old with autism, refused to wear a mask. Alyssa Sadler said her son became upset because he does not like to have his face touched. All major US airlines have mask rules and have banned at least a couple hundred passengers who have refused to comply. Typically, the violators are adults who argue that there is no government requirement to wear a mask — there isn’t; the FAA has declined to impose one, leaving it up to the airlines. JetBlue and Southwest both require masks for all passengers except those under the age of 2. <br/>