It is a long way from Miami to London, ask Christopher Columbus (who didn’t come from London or hit the American mainland on the first trip, we’re just giving an approximation. Things are easier nowadays but takes seven hours to get between the two cities. As we said, it’s a long way, long ride.

The CNN article below says that it took one hour and 48 minutes from liftoff to back at the gate. It was not five minutes out. Still, going back and loading all back up with all procedures again would add a significant delay.

You would think that a passenger who was told, “Put your mask on or the plane will turn around and let you off to meet with police,” would be plenty of motivation to put a mask on. But it wasn’t enough for one guy:

“American Airlines flight 38 with service from Miami (MIA) to London (LHR) returned to MIA due to a disruptive customer refusing to comply with the federal mask requirement,” American Airlines said in a statement. Local law enforcement met the flight at Miami International Airport, the airline said.

The Miami-Dade Police Department told CNN it was called by the airline regarding a female passenger who refused to wear a mask.

“Once the plane made it to the gate, the passenger was escorted off the plane by MDPD officers without incident. The passenger was then dealt with administratively by American Airlines staff,” said Detective A. Colome from the Miami-Dade Police Department.

As we said, it’s a long way. One wonders why someone would choose to wait fifty minutes into a flight to prove that he or she wasn’t following the rules. It likely took another hour to get new paperwork done, add some fuel, and get going again.

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