American Airlines Flight returned to land in Miami, less than an hour into the flight, where it was met by police after a woman refused to wear a mask on board the flight, BBC News reported.
The woman, mid-fourties, has been added to the list of people banned from American Airlines flights, pending further investigation, according to the airline.
"American Airlines flight 38 with service from Miami (MIA) to London returned to MIA due to a disruptive customer refusing to comply with the federal mask requirement," BBC News reported the airline statement.
"Everyone was shocked," one passenger said to CBS station.
Another passenger said: "They wouldn't really say anything, and I don't believe they told the flight attendants anything either because they said all they could say was there was an extreme incident with a passenger and they had to turn around," she told the station.
Airlines have reported nearly 6,000 incidents of misconduct or violence by passengers over the last year, some with extreme behaviour. 151 cases were recorded in the first two weeks, and 92 of the scruples were over passengers refusing to wear masks,
according to the Federal Aviation Administration.