December 6, 2021
Frequent Flyer Suing Alaska Airlines Asks Court to Overturn Banning Him for Eating Without Mask
Airline Retaliates by Refusing to Transport
Disabled Alaska Man Litigating over Discrimination
Dec. 6, 2021
By LUCAS WALL
ORLANDO, Florida – An Alaska man suing Alaska Airlines over its discriminatory mask policy asked the U.S. District Court here to restrain the carrier from refusing him transportation because he was eating on a recent flight without donning a mask.
Peter Menage of Palmer, Alaska, works in the remote North Slope oilfields along the Arctic Ocean in far northern Alaska. He must fly every three weeks from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay for his job. Menage has a doctor’s note exempting him from wearing a face covering, but Alaska has refused to grant him an exception in violation of several federal laws, the motion for a temporary restraining order states.
Menage asks for an emergency court order by Wednesday because he’s scheduled to fly home Thursday on Alaska Airlines, the only airline serving the route. Without court action, he would be stranded in Prudhoe Bay (served by the airport in Deadhorse) and would likely lose his job since the only way of commuting is on the airline.
“On Nov. 25, 2021, I boarded Alaska Flight 55 from Anchorage to Deadhorse to come to work,” Menage wrote. “Once we reached cruising altitude and the flight attendants started serving drinks, I got out my own food and beverage. I proceeded to eat and drink. A flight attendant came and demanded I put a mask back on. I had food in my hand and was chewing when she addressed me. After finishing chewing my food, I told her I was eating. She demanded again that I put a mask on. I repeated that I am eating. She persisted, demanding I don a mask while eating and drinking, which is impossible. It is also not the company policy or required by the Federal Transportation Mask Mandate.”
Alaska is one of seven airlines being sued by 13 disabled Americans in a class-action lawsuit regarding their mask policies that discriminate against passengers with medical conditions who can’t tolerate having their breathing obstructed.
The airline sent Menage letters Nov. 25 and Dec. 1 telling him he’s been banned from future flights because he allegedly violated the mask mandate. But Menage maintains all he did was remove his mask to eat, an activity specifically permitted by the FTMM.
“If this Court does not restrain Alaska Airlines from refusing to transport me, the odds of losing my job are very high,” according to court papers. “This would constitute irreparable harm for myself and my family.”
Due to his respiratory issues, Menage can’t tolerate wearing a face mask. Covering his nose and mouth prevents proper breathing including faintness, hyperventilation, anxiety, and more, he declares.
Menage argues that retaliating against him for suing Alaska for discrimination is outlawed by the Rehabilitation Act and Air Carrier Access Act, federal laws that protect the disabled from discrimination.
“Alaska has also received several billion dollars of federal funding during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure airline services continue,” according the motion. “As a condition for receiving such funds, it must comply with the Rehabilitation Act and ACAA. … The Rehabilitation Act specifically outlaws retaliating against a person who asserts his rights under the act, i.e. by filing a lawsuit in federal court.”
Menage is not the first plaintiff in the class-action suit in Orlando to be banned by one of the airlines being sued. In October, JetBlue Airways placed the case’s lead plaintiff, Lucas Wall, on its no-fly list.
Wall, 44, of Washington D.C., has been stuck in Florida since early June, when Southwest Airlines and the Transportation Security Administration refused to grant him a mask exemption at Orlando International Airport. He sued the federal government June 7 to strike down the FTMM. A week later, he filed a lawsuit against Alaska, JetBlue, and five other airlines for their illegal discriminatory mask policies that prohibit those who are medically unable to cover their faces from flying.
Wall condemned Alaska Airlines for illegally retaliating against Menage.
“Alaska’s action banning Peter from future flights, which will likely cost him his employment, is a horrific example of the airline industry’s constant attacks on the disabled over masks,” Wall said. “No disabled person asserting his rights under federal law by submitting a mask-exemption request should be placed on a no-fly list. Alaska will have to answer for its shameful behavior in court.”
A dozen other flyers joined Wall’s class-action suit against the seven airlines Sept. 13 charging them with conspiracy to interfere with civil rights by barring anyone who can’t wear a mask from flying. The amended complaint also charges the carriers with 29 other counts including infringing on the constitutional right to travel interstate and internationally; reckless endangerment; as well as breaking numerous provisions of the Air Carrier Access Act, Rehabilitation Act, and international treaties.
U.S. Department of Transportation regulations prohibit an airline from taking “any adverse action against an individual (e.g., refusing to provide transportation) because the individual asserts, on his or her own behalf or through or on behalf of others, rights protected by … the Air Carrier Access Act.”
Plaintiff Kleanthis Andreadakis of Henrico County, Virginia, said Alaska’s action banning Menage from the airline only strengthens his resolve to fight back against the illegal discrimination against the disabled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There is a big difference between someone who is ‘unruly’ and someone unable to wear a mask due to a medical condition,” he said. “Punishing those with medical conditions by discriminating against their legal ability and protected right to travel by air is a direct violation of federal and international law. The FTMM, which we contend is illegal, contains specific provisions that state the disabled are entitled to exemptions from wearing face coverings. And it specifically allows for mask removal while eating and drinking.”
Plaintiff Shannon Cila of Louisville, Kentucky, described Alaska’s conduct as truly disgraceful.
“Alaska Airlines has willfully colluded with the other airlines to criminalize disabled citizens and to legitimize their deplorable plot of malfeasance against those who can’t wear masks,” she said. “This egregious abuse of our legal system should concern every American. It’s horrendous that the Department of Transportation, which is supposed to enforce the law prohibiting airlines from discriminating against the disabled, is allowing this misconduct to persist.”
The case is Wall v. Southwest Airlines, No. 6:21-cv-1008, U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida Orlando Division.
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