London, Europe Brief News – A London-bound American Airlines flight has had to turn back because a passenger refused to wear a face mask.
American Airlines said flight AAL38 with 129 passengers on board returned to Miami before reaching London.
Police were waiting to arrest the passenger.
They escorted a woman in her 40s off the plane, reports say.
They placed her on a list of people barred from flying with American Airlines, pending further investigation, the airline said.
The flight turned around about an hour into its journey, according to tracking service FlightAware.
Last week, France has allowed Britons hoping to transit the country to reach homes elsewhere in the European Union.
This came after a surprise clampdown caused dismay for thousands of travellers.
Under tougher Covid rules that began this week, non-resident Britons can no longer drive through France. Only those with a primary French residence can enter.
Many Londoners take the Channel Tunnel from England to France, using Eurotunnel’s Shuttle service, to take cars from the UK to their homes in other EU countries.
But over the holidays many returned to Britain to visit family and friends without knowing that France was planning the tougher rules on non-residents.
But with London no longer part of the EU, Britain is a “third country”. Britons face the same rules as those of other nations outside the bloc.
“Unless they hold French residency, British citizens are now considered third country citizens and can no longer transit France by road to reach their country of residence in the EU,” Eurotunnel said in a tweet late Wednesday.
P&O Ferries issued a similar tweet warning that “only those with French residency will be permitted to enter France”.
