A Chicago woman has become the latest mom to make headlines for being booted from a plane over her toddler's refusal to wear a mask. Jodi Degyansky told ABC News that the incident happened Saturday after she and her 2-year-old son boarded a Southwest Airlines flight from Florida to Midway Airport. After an altercation with a flight attendent, Degyansky was forced to deplane. The tense moment was partially captured on film, which is going viral.
Cellphone footage shows only some of the mom's exchange with a gate agent.
Degyansky told ABC that prior to the moments captured on film, members of the flight crew approached her several times.
"They came over maybe four or five times and asked [my son] to pull up his mask, will he wear his mask the duration of the flight, are you confident he'll wear his mask?" she shared. "Which I absolutely was."
The problem is, she says her son was distracted.
"It was definitely a struggle in the moment because he did have food in front of him," Degyansky continued, "so at 2 years of age he was a little more distracted with the food than wanting to pull the mask up over his face."
In other words: He was being a toddler.
The Chicago mom wasn't too worried at first, because the pair had flown down to Florida days prior without incident — even though her son was a bit inconsistent about wearing his mask then too.
"The flight attendants were absolutely fine with him 'working on it,' is what they said," she told ABC. "'Just work on it, try to wear it,' [they told me]."
But on the flight back home, it was a different story.
"They said 'Families have been using eating as an excuse so their kids don't have to wear masks,'" Degyansky said. '"I said 'That's absolutely not the case here.'"
According to Southwest Airlines, that's not exactly true.
A representative told ABC that the airline "requires all Customers over the age of 2 to wear a face covering or face mask while traveling to help prevent the transmission of COVID-19."
"If a customer is unable to wear a face covering for any reason," the representative added, "Southwest regrets that we are unable to transport the individual."
Degyansky is far from the only parent who's found themselves in this predicament.
And (no surprise), many of them have been flying with toddlers who aren't quite old enough to understand the importance of mask wearing.
On August 19, a mom of six was booted from a JetBlue flight that was also taking off from Florida. Chaya Bruck, who lives in Brooklyn, New York, told reporters that it happened after her 2-year-old daughter Dina became unruly about wearing her face mask.
"It was horrible, the whole experience was traumatizing," Bruck told The Daily News at the time. "I was trying very hard … [The other children] were wearing their masks with their noses covered."
But her toddler was not having it — and before she knew it, the Brooklyn mom and her six kids were stranded in the middle of Orlando International Airport, struggling to find an alternate flight home.
Earlier that month, a mom from Texas faced the same fate.
The unnamed mother, who was boarding a short flight from Houston to Midland, Texas, was having difficulty getting her 3-year-old to wear a mask too. But in her case, the task proved more challenging because her toddler has autism.
"We're getting close to the runway," she told ABC 13 last month. "They're going over the security safety features and all that, and the flight attendant walks by and tells me that he has to put a mask on. So, I try to put the mask on him. He is 3 and has autism and sensory processing disorders, so he wouldn't keep the mask on."
The mother, who was also on a Southwest flight like Degyansky, tried to explain that her child had special needs. But unfortunately, the flight crew said that because of recent policy updates, no exceptions could be made.
Children 2 and older have to wear a mask on Southwest flights at all times, she was told — no ifs, ands, or buts. So the Texas mother soon found herself getting off the plane.
Many airlines have tightened mask-wearing guidelines since COVID-19 struck.
Many of these changes came during late July and early August, leaving many parents to grapple with yet another hurdle while traveling with small children.
According to USA Today, Southwest is just one of many major US airlines to adhere to the "2 and older" mask-wearing mandate. Others include JetBlue, Delta, Hawaiian, Alaska Air, and United.
As for Degyansky, she found herself shocked by the whole experience.
Degyansy said she was ultimately booted from the flight after asking the attendant to give her six feet of space. The plane was soon turned around and the gate agent asked her to deplane.
"I felt completely disrespected by the gate agent," Degyansky told ABC. "It was a really stressful emotional situation and totally humiliating because, again, we were following the guidelines set in place by the airline."
In the end, she said she was able to catch another flight home.
"We got our luggage, packed up, went back through security, and paid almost $600 for an American flight home," Degyansky said.
Degyansky said her son boarded that flight without issue and even slept maskless, according to ABC News. The news station reported that this was likely because "American Airlines doesn't require masks until age 3," though it should be noted that the airline's official website states clearly in its policy that "Only children under the age of 2 are exempt from American's face covering policy."
Whatever the case, Degyansky was able to make it home safely.
Because Florida is on Chicago's travel quarantine list, Degyansky told the news station that she plans to abide by a 14-day quarantine with her son now that they're back home. That said, she still believes she should have been treated with more respect and that some leniency should be taken into consideration when it comes to toddlers who are too young to understand the implications of the pandemic.
One bright side? ABC reported that Southwest has promised to refund anyone removed from a flight over its mask policy. As of now, though, Degyansky says she's yet to receive one.
