Boston teens who refused to wear masks on AA flight were 'unfairly blamed'

The 46 Boston teenagers who were accused of refusing to wear masks on an American Airlines plane en route to the Bahamas were not responsible for the flight being delayed an entire day, the tour company behind the graduation trip says. 

AA Flight 893, which was bound for Nassau, faced extensive delays on Monday after the mask-wearing ordeal on the plane at Charlotte Douglas International Airport. 

Fellow passengers say the teens, who had just graduated from Winthrop High School outside of Boston, refused to wear their masks and became disruptive on the plane. 

The airline said the delay was the result of non-compliance with the federal mask mandate and that the passengers involved refused to follow crew member instructions. 

But the owner of Breakaway Beach, a private tour company they had booked their trip through, says the airline wrongly punished the entire group after just one teenager refused to wear their mask. 

Eugene Winer told the Boston Globe that the flight had initially been delayed for a technical issue, which forced passengers to remain on the plane without ventilation for about two hours. 

'During this time some passengers including the students may have removed masks due to the no air-conditioning/ventilation, quite unbearable conditions,' he said. 

'One passenger was officially escorted off of the aircraft but was not ticketed or charged with an offense.' 

Winer said all passengers were them removed from the flight while repairs were carried out but the 46 teens were told they couldn't re-board because their classmate had been removed for not wearing a mask. 

'The actions of this passenger resulted in the entire group of graduates being labelled 'unruly' and 'disruptive,' ' he said. 

'Breakaway was told [by American Airlines] that the actions of one individual were the responsibility of the entire group.' 

The airline eventually allowed the teens back on the plane

read more from dailymail.....