Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Attendant Current
Troubleshooting; Communication Breakdown; Confusion; Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Passenger Misconduct
General None Reported / Taken
Company Policy; Human Factors; Environment - Non Weather Related
At the start of our flight there were thru passengers; one of which was a family of 4. Their small child was not wearing her mask correctly; so I ask that they use the child mask that the previous crew left for them. They were compliant and not a problem. During boarding; another family of 4 boarded with a child that had his own seat and was clearly not under 2. He had no mask at all; I told the Mom that he needed to have a mask on before boarding the plane. She said she told the Gate Agent that he was under 2. I let her board and called down the agent who said that even though he had a purchased seat there was no way other than to take her word for it. During the flight his sister came up and spoke to us about her vacation and told us that she had a baby brother who is 3. This being the same kid that was questioned. My problem with us not having a policy to check for birth dates is that it essentially creates a problem with compliance. How can I be expected to enforce the mask policy to the family that was honest about their child's age while the family that lies does not have to comply. If this was done when the ticket was purchased; then it makes it fair for everyone.
Flight Attendant reported a child was not wearing a face mask on the flight and questioned how flight attendants could enforce a child to wear a mask.