By: Sattwik Biswal
BRITISH boxer Amir Khan and his colleague were removed from a plane in the US over an alleged row over face coverings inside the flight.
Khan said he along with a colleague were taken off an american airlines by police after someone complained his friend’s mask “was not high enough”.
The airline confirmed that the flight from Newark Airport to Dallas-Fort Worth returned to the gate after two people reportedly “refused to comply with crew requests”. However, it denied of police having intervened.
“Our customer relations team is reaching out to Mr Khan to learn more about his experience and reinforce the importance of policies implemented for the safety of our customers and crew,” a spokesman for the airline said.
Khan, 34, who was flying to Colorado for a training camp, said he was “disgusted” by this treatment.
In a video posted on Twitter, the former world champion from Bolton, said: “I was taken off the plane today when I was going to training camp to Colorado Springs, by the police.
“Obviously a complaint was made by American Airlines staff, they said that my colleague’s mask was not high enough and not up, that they had to stop the plane and take me and my friend off when I did nothing wrong.”
He added: “Now I have to reschedule another airplane to travel back to training camp which is really upsetting, for no reason this was and I’m just so disgusted that American Airlines would do this to us and ban me from travelling.”
American Airlines said Flight 700 returned to the gate at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey after two customers “reportedly refused to comply with repeated crew member requests to stow luggage, place cell phones in airplane mode and adhere to federal face covering requirements”.
It said “per protocol” police were present when the aircraft returned to the gate but were not involved in asking either passenger to leave the plane and did not intervene.
The airline also said neither Khan nor his colleague had been banned by the airline.
