- A British boxer said he was removed from an
American Airlines flight over an alleged mask dispute. - Amir Khan said someone had complained that his colleague's mask "was not high enough."
- The airline said it returned to the gate after two people "refused to comply with crew requests."
A British boxer called American Airlines "disgusting" after he was escorted off a flight with a colleague over an alleged face mask dispute.
In a video posted to Twitter on Saturday, Amir Khan said he was on his way to a training camp in Colorado from New Jersey when he and a colleague were removed from the flight.
"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 said in the video.
He said: "They kicked us both off, I was sat on 1A, he was sat on 1B - I find it so disgusting and so disrespectful, I was supposed to go to Colorado Springs for a training camp and now I'm back in New York for another day.
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 traveling."
Watch the clip below:
-Amir Khan (@amirkingkhan) September 18, 2021
A spokesperson for American Airlines said the flight returned to the gate after two passengers "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," the BBC reported.
The airline added that a police escort is "per protocol" when an aircraft returns to the gate and that neither Khan nor his colleague were banned from flying with them again.
Insider also reached out to American Airlines for further comment.
Khan, who is from Bolton, is the former light-welterweight world champion. The 34-year-old has also appeared on several British reality television shows including "I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!"