October 26, 2021
Florida Father Suing TSA Appears on Fox News after Frontier Refused to Board 4-Year-Old Autistic Son
Seklecki Discusses Saturday’s Mask Incident
at Orlando Airport with Shannon Bream
Oct. 26, 2021
By LUCAS WALL
BOSTON, Massachusetts – The father of a 4-year-old autistic boy denied boarding Saturday morning by Frontier Airlines at Orlando International Airport appeared on “Fox News at Night” early today to discuss the incident and his lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration’s Federal Transportation Mask Mandate with anchor Shannon Bream.
Frontier refused to allow the family of four to board a flight from Orlando to Hartford, Connecticut, Saturday because their autistic 4-year-old son, Michael Jr., can’t cover his face. This happened despite the fact Michael Jr. has a doctor’s note saying he’s exempt from mask mandates, which was submitted to Frontier in advance of the flight.
“We did submit prior to the trip documentation stating that he cannot wear a mask,” Michael Seklecki Sr. of Sanford, Florida, said during his interview on Fox News Channel. “Frontier Airlines still refused to board him, saying that corporate has oversight and jurisdiction over a licensed pediatrician and they would not let him on the flight, making us miss our entire flight to Boston to receive medical care.”
Michael Sr. said the family had to take a Delta flight 13 hours later Saturday. Unlike Frontier, Delta did accommodate Michael Jr.’s mask exemption.
“We were stranded in the airport most of the day because of this and trying to reaccommodate him, dealing with him having a meltdown for several hours because he did not make the flight and could not understand why we were not on the flight,” he told Bream from Boston, where the Seklecki family must fly often for Michael Jr.’s specialized medical care at Boston Children’s Hospital. “It was just a total nightmare. Frontier Airlines had zero regard for the ADA, zero regard for accommodating a disability, trying to force a child – who has no understanding of a mask mandate – to wear a mask. They were very condescending and rude about the whole incident.”
A week ago, Michael Jr. and Michael Sr. joined a group of 14 flyers from nine other states and the District of Columbia who filed six lawsuits charging the Transportation Security Administration with exceeding its legal authority by continuing to extend the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate. The Sekleckis are among four Florida petitioners in the case before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta.
Saturday’s incident – captured on video and posted to YouTube – began when the family approached the boarding gate for Frontier Flight 1206. Michael Sr. told a female Frontier supervisor that he had a doctor’s note exempting Michael Jr. from wearing a mask due to Autism Spectrum Disorder. The supervisor and Frontier’s station manager, who identified himself as Ken, refused to grant Michael Jr. a mask exception.
“If you did not go ahead and provide the documents to Frontier Airlines, unfortunately we cannot go ahead and” allow the exemption, the supervisor said. Michael Sr. showed her an e-mail from Frontier acknowledging he did send in the physician’s note, but she and Ken refused to budge.
Frontier’s mask policy violates the Air Carrier Access Act, a federal law prohibiting airlines from discriminating against passengers with medical conditions. Frontier and six other airlines are being sued by 13 disabled flyers in the U.S. District Court in Orlando for their unlawful mask rules.
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