The passenger, referred to by the company as ‘Mr Main’, eventually agreed to wear a face covering after the aircraft was visited by States police officers.
This week, the man appeared on BBC Breakfast to speak out about the incident – which happened on a flight from Jersey to Gatwick on 24 August – saying that he has asthma and had printed out a card from the UK government’s website which exempted him from wearing a face mask.
However, he claimed that the crew refused to recognise it, telling him to either put on a mask or leave the aircraft.
‘The staff came to speak to me around six times. The 30-minute delay was seen as my fault and each visit whipped up more hostility among the passengers,’ he told the BBC.
‘I was insulted, shouted at, laughed at. It felt like everybody was against me.
‘I would do anything to avoid wearing anything that restricts my breathing. That’s more terrifying than being insulted by 100 passengers, but eventually I felt like I had no choice.’
Islanders entering the Airport are required to wear a face mask but those carrying a valid medical certificate can obtain a free ‘exempt from wearing face mask’ identification card from the terminal.
But Ports of Jersey have since said that the man, who only had a UK government form, did not collect a card as he wore a face mask as he passed through the Airport.
EasyJet has apologised to Mr Main, saying that they have updated their policies to enable crew to recognise exemption documents issued from a government website.
‘We have recently updated our policies in line with recent UK government guidance so that as well as a medical certificate, customers can alternatively provide a relevant document from a government website or lanyard,’ the spokesperson said.
‘We are sorry that this new policy was not recognised by the crew on this occasion and if Mr Main was unhappy with how this was handled onboard. However we cannot tolerate disruptive behaviour towards our crew.’
