#Passenger reportedly kicked off plane after telling flight attendant to wear mask

Passengers aboard an Allegiant Air plane reacted in disbelief when a man was kicked off the flight after apparently telling a flight attendant to wear a face mask, according to a report.

“I just asked somebody to put on their face mask,” the man is heard saying Monday in a viral video shot by a fellow passenger on the tarmac in Punta Gorda, Florida, Newsweek reported.

The footage shows an airline employee — who is wearing a mask — repeatedly telling the man, whom she refers to as “Mr. Peterman,” to get off the plane.

“Either you come off or I get the law enforcement,” she tells him to the amazement of other passengers.

“You are totally wrong,” one flier says to the woman. “This is ridiculous,” says another.

“I’m just doing what I’m supposed to do,” the employee says impatiently.

The man asks the other passengers, “Why don’t you all get off with me?” He then asks to speak with the captain – to no avail.

“Captain, can I have a word with you please before I get kicked off? I just asked someone to put on their face mask. That’s all I did,” he says.

An Allegiant rep told The Post in an email that the “passenger became disruptive during the pre-flight safety briefing. Following the announcement, the passenger persisted in making threatening statements to the flight attendant, to the point of harassment.”

The spokeswoman added that “interfering with a crew member is a violation of FAA regulations.”

“Customer and crew safety is paramount. … as the disruptive behavior continued, the decision was made to deplane the passenger. He was re-accommodated to a later flight,” she said.

In a statement to Newsweek, Allegiant said the pre-flight safety briefing “includes reiteration of our inflight face-covering policy.”

The airline told the mag that “the flight attendant giving the safety briefing lowered their mask for speaking into the PA so the briefing could be understood.”

The brief lowering of her face covering is what caused the passenger to be “disruptive,” Allegiant added.

Like many other carriers, Allegiant has a mask policy that requires all travelers to keep their face coverings on “during all phases of travel, including at the ticket counter and in the gate area, as well as during the duration of the flight,” the airline told Newsweek.

According to its website, “All crew members are required to wear a face-covering at all times and gloves during inflight service.”

Allegiant has received multiple complaints from customers who complained that employees either don’t wear masks or wear them incorrectly.

“@Allegiant how am I supposed to feel safe flying when my chatty Kathy flight attendant isn’t even wearing her mask properly and keeps taking it off?!? Safety first or last…?” Twitter user @jesscacaroline posted.

“Dear @Allegiant, if you’re going to tell people to wear masks on your flights, ya better have your flight attendants enforce it. We’re in a freaking pandemic,” @NerdCaptnHaley wrote.

In a Sept. 2 post, Allegiant wrote: “We earned the highest score for COVID-19 traveler safety in a recent ranking of North America’s airlines! Safe Travel Barometer conducted the independent audit, evaluating more than 150 airlines.”

In response, @ruirish01 wrote: “That surprises me after my recent trip where I witnessed the flight attendant wear her mask below her nose for much of the flight.”