FORT LAUDERDALE — A Cape Coral man tells us he was kicked off a United Airlines flight Wednesday morning because he was wearing women's underwear as a face mask.
He argues it covered his nose and mouth and complied with TSA guidelines.
Adam Jenne tells us he thinks the rule requiring people to wear masks on a plane is silly, but it’s Federal law at least until March, so he decided to follow the rule in a silly way.
Unfortunately for him, staff on United Airlines flight 1750 from Ft. Lauderale to Washington, D.C. didn’t find it very funny.
"You’re going to have to come off the airplane. We’re not going to let you travel," said a flight attendant in a cell phone video recorded by a passenger.
"Why?" responded Jenne in the video.
"You’re not in mask compliance," said the attendant in the video.
In the video, you can see Jenne’s bright red underwear hanging on his face as he gets walked off the plane. He said he was trying to show why the rule doesn’t make sense to him.
"There’s nothing more absurd than having to wear a mask until I get to cruising altitude so that I can order Tito’s by the double and snack on pretzels, and illustrating that absurdity by wearing women’s underwear on my face sounds perfect," said Jenne.
Shortly after Jenne left, other passengers started to speak up.
“Did he just get kicked off for wearing a mask?” said one man in the video.
That man then chose to leave the flight as well.
“I’m out of here, forget it. I’m out of here," said the man.
Jenne said several passengers ended up getting off the plane to support him.
"Thank you to them, because they saw something, an injustice, something that didn’t make sense, and they stood up," said Jenne.
Afterward Jenne received an email from United Airlines saying he is now banned from United flights until his case has been reviewed by the Passenger Incident Review Committee.
Jenne said he still feels like he was in the right.
“Your rights end where mine begin. You don’t get to tell me how I conduct myself," said Jenne.
We checked United’s website, and it said masks should not have any vents or openings and should fully cover your nose and mouth.
Jenne said he believes his underwear mask followed those guidelines, but he also said this isn’t the first flight he’s been kicked off of for this.
He said he was also asked to leave a Delta Airlines flight for wearing underwear.
We reached out to United Airlines to get the company’s response. In a statement, the communications team said
"The customer clearly wasn’t in compliance with the federal mask mandate and we appreciate that our team addressed the issue on the ground prior to takeoff, avoiding any potential disruptions in the air.”
