October 22, 2021
American Calls Police, Bans Disabled Man
for Asking for Mask Exemption after Fainting
Kentucky Frequent Flyer Blacklisted for
Suing TSA Tuesday over Mask Mandate
Oct. 22, 2021
By LUCAS WALL
ONTARIO, California – American Airlines appears to have banned a Kentucky frequent traveler who attempted to check in Thursday for a flight from Ontario to Louisville via Dallas after he asked for a mask exemption and noted he had fainted earlier that morning in the airport when forced to muzzle himself.
“I warned you that putting this mask on could possibly make me faint and you’re okay with that?” Michael Faris of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, asked the American check-in agent, who refused to disclose her name. Faris captured the incident on video.
“I’m calling the police,” the American agent said in response to Faris’ mask-exemption request. “They’re going to come talk to you cause I’m done talking to you.”
Faris then said on the video: “This lady has basically said even after I told her that making me wear a mask makes me faint – I’ve already done it twice on these airlines – that she is okay and will not [check me in] until I put a mask on. But she’s okay with me being injured if that’s what it takes to [check me in]. It’s wrong.”
Earlier Thursday morning, Faris – who sued the Transportation Security Administration on Tuesday challenging the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati, learned he had been placed on TSA’s terrorist watch list for filing the lawsuit. After enduring a lengthy special security screening, United Airlines made Faris put on a mask to board his flight to Louisville via Denver. He fainted in the jetway during a panic attack, scraping his elbow and knee. United refused to allow him on the flight because of his medical condition.
Faris booked a new flight for five hours later on American to fly home from his work assignment in California. When he tried to check in, he asked for a mask exemption. American’s agent told him no and ordered him to put a mask on even though American has no jurisdiction over airport property. Faris said he would put on a mask only when stepping into American’s airplane. The agent responded by calling American’s corporate security office.
“After finishing the conversation with the security department, she informed me that if I did not put the mask on immediately that she would not give me my boarding pass,” Faris said. “That’s when the agent said she didn’t have a problem with the possibility that I could be injured. I must wear the mask or I would not get my ticket.”
The customer-service agent became combative and called the police in the incident recorded by Faris. He is medically exempt by a neurologist from wearing a mask, but airlines have consistently refused to grant him an exception because of the FTMM.
As Ontario cops responded, Faris spoke with American supervisor Edward Norman III. Police stood by observing the conversation but told Faris he wasn’t doing anything wrong and American had no cause to summon them.
Norman informed Faris that his booking had been cancelled by American security with a note “do not rebook.” Norman then said because he knew that wearing a mask could cause Faris cause to faint again, he was not comfortable allowing him to rebook and board another flight. Norman, American’s legally designated Complaint Resolution Officer at ONT, said he was not willing to help Faris obtain a mask exemption, in what Faris asserts is a violation of the Air Carrier Access Act, a federal law prohibiting airlines from discriminating against passengers with disabilities.
Faris was forced to go to LAX airport to take another airline home to Kentucky. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he has filed seven complaints against American’s mask policies with the U.S. Department of Transportation. None have been resolved.
ONT airport is a public facility owned by the Ontario International Airport Authority, formed by the city of Ontario and San Bernardino County.
“The airlines do not own property at the airport. The lobby areas, jetbridges, and lounges are all leased from the airport owner,” Faris said. “Airport facilities are taxpayer funded, meaning we have certain rights protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It’s absurd that a private business like American Airlines thinks it has authority to control what a person with an anxiety disorder – or any other passenger – has to wear on his face in the common areas of an airport.”
Faris described his experiences getting blacklisted by TSA, United, and American as mentally exhausting.
“There is no compassion, decency, or understanding from these agents,” said Faris, who typically flys at least twice a month for his job as a helicopter maintenance supervisor. “I have a platinum frequent-flyer status with American Airlines. You would think that amount of loyalty would count for something. After today’s events, it is clear that their customers mean nothing more to them than another couple dollars.”
Faris is part of a group of 12 disabled flyers and a former flight attendant from nine states and the District of Columbia who filed six lawsuits Tuesday around the country charging TSA with exceeding its legal authority by continuing to extend a requirement that all public-transportation passengers don face masks. Faris is the lead petitioner in the 6th Circuit case, which also includes three Ohio residents.
“TSA’s function is limited by law to address security threats. Congress has never given the agency power to regulate the public health and welfare,” the petitioners argue. “Wearing face masks has nothing whatsoever to do with transportation security.”
Faris has to fly every 12 days for work. He was injured on a United Airlines plane earlier this year when blocking his breathing caused him to faint during a flight. He smashed his face on a galley cart.
“As a person who has endured physical injury by the airlines due to these unconstitutional mandates, I am standing up for people like me,” Faris said. “We cannot allow TSA to continue down the path of discriminating against Americans with medical conditions who cannot wear a face covering.”
Fellow litigants denounced American’s action blacklisting Faris for doing nothing more than asking for a medical exemption from its mask mandate.
Charity of Anderson of Toledo, Ohio, who is part of Faris’ case before the 6th Circuit, described his experiences at ONT on Thursday as horrific.
“Is this where we are now in America?” she asked. “Open retaliation by the government and American Airlines against disabled people who sue for their rights to travel? Being labeled a threat for addressing grievances through legal channels?”
Tony Eades of Warsaw, Missouri, is involved in a class-action lawsuit against seven airlines regarding their illegal mask policies after he was thrown off a Southwest Airlines flight earlier this year for removing his mask so he could breathe. He suffers from asthma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after being shot while serving in the military in Iraq. Eades is also the petitioner in the lawsuit filed Tuesday against TSA’s mask mandate with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit in St. Louis.
“My experience wasn’t as bad as what Michael endured yesterday, but I do know how degrading it feels to be blocked from flying because of not medically being able to tolerate blocking my breathing,” Eades said. “It’s horrible to have the airlines make a scene over a disabled person who can’t muzzle.”
Donate to our legal fund on GoFundMe: Help End Federal Transportation Mask Mandate
Join our Facebook group: Americans Against Mask Mandates
Just curious: which airline did he take from LAX to Kentucky?
Spirit