An American Airlines flight headed to London from Miami had to return to the airport after a passenger refused to wear a mask.
American Airlines flight 38 departed for London on Wednesday, carrying 129 passengers when it had to turn back, CBS News reported.
The plane was able to land safely at Miami International Airport, and was met by police, the airline said.
“We thank our crew for their professionalism and apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” American said in a statement.
The flight was in the air for about an hour and a half before it turned around, CBS station WFOR-TV reports. Passengers were told to get off the plane once it landed.
“Everyone was shocked,” one passenger told WFOR-TV.
Another passenger told the news station that she was disappointed.
“They wouldn’t really say anything, and I don’t believe they told the flight attendants anything either because they said all they could say was there was an extreme incident with a passenger and they had to turn around,” she told the station.
The Federal Aviation Administration reported a “disturbing increase” in the number of incidents involving unruly passengers.
So far this year, the agency has received 151 reports of disruptive passengers already this year and 92 of those reports were related to masks.
