A mum has told how her family was ‘singled out’ on a transatlantic flight about to take off from Heathrow and escorted off because her two-year-old son was not wearing a mask.

Angela Artis, 31, and her husband, Darien, were travelling home to Charlotte in the US on a connection from Greece when a flight attendant ‘pointed a finger at my baby’ as she enforced the rule.

Mrs Artis, Darien and their son, Mason, had to sleep overnight at a hotel in the airport before catching another plane the following day.

The family had boarded American Airlines flight 733 on Sunday after renewing their wedding vows in Santorini, Greece.

They had travelled from Charlotte in North Carolina via Boston and London with American Airlines and British Airways on the outbound journey without Mason wearing a mask and were fully vaccinated.

American Airlines said today it had to ‘deplane a party failing to comply with the face mask requirement’ but is reviewing the incident and has reached out to the family for further information.

Mrs Artis told Metro.co.uk: ‘To start with a couple of the flight attendants were lovely, they were super-nice giving my son a hug and a lollipop, they even tried to give him a peck on the cheek through their masks.

‘But about 25 minutes before the flight was due to take off another attendant came over and pointed a finger at my baby.

‘She said “he needs to put a mask on or he’s got to go” in a very rude way.

‘My heart dropped. We had no idea it was a strict policy because we had travelled that entire way without my son wearing a mask.

‘We were told two-year-olds and up have to wear a mask. But what we have been told by so many different flight attendants is that you can’t feasibly keep a mask on a two-year-old for more than five minutes.

‘We had tried to put it on him for the first few minutes but he just couldn’t keep it on, it’s difficult for a baby to even physically breathe with a mask on.’

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Mr Artis turned his mobile phone camera on as his wife tried to reason with the steward, who she says pushed the phone while it was in his hand.

Mrs Artis said: ‘I was shocked. Everyone was wondering why she was doing this over a baby. There was another baby in the front who was not wearing a mask and I don’t know why we were singled out.

‘We had flown the entire way with no one saying anything.’

Mrs Artis, a contract manager for a pharmaceutical company, said she tried to reason with the attendant but the plane then taxied back to the terminal.

She told Metro.co.uk the family was made to disembark after a passenger announcement explaining that a child was not wearing a mask.

Mrs Artis was in tears as the parents complained to an American Airlines representative in the airport.

‘He basically agreed with us,’ Mrs Artis said.

‘He said they shouldn’t have turned the plane around for a two-year-old baby. He was shocked when he saw the video.’

Mrs Artis, who shared the clip on Instagram, found the rule was not enforced when they flew home the following day.

‘On the flight home we showed the mask but the flight attendants said a baby can basically not keep a mask on,’ she said.

‘My son didn’t wear it and no one said anything.

‘We’d also flown out on up to five planes and no one had said anything. No one mandated the rule up until that point.’

In accordance with directives from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Transportation Security Administration, American Airlines requires passengers aged two and older to wear face coverings at all times while indoors at airports and onboard.

The US ruling has led to complaints that some crews are being too heavy-handed when it comes to enforcing the Covid precaution.

In April, a family of four was reportedly disembarked from a Spirit Airlines flight from Orlando to Atlantic City with all of the other passengers because their two-year-old was not wearing a mask.

American Airlines provided overnight accommodation and rebooked the Artis family onto the following day’s flight.

In a statement, the airline said: ‘On Oct. 17, American Airlines flight 733 returned to the gate prior to departure from London Heathrow to deplane a party failing to comply with the face mask requirement.

‘After agreeing to comply with the face mask requirement, all individuals were rebooked for travel on the next flight to Charlotte the following day.

‘We are reviewing this incident and a member of our team has reached out to the customers to learn more about what took place.’

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