Black passengers who were briefly ordered off an American Airlines plane in January sued the airline Wednesday, alleging that they were victims of racial discrimination.
What You Need To Know
- The three men say American Airlines employees asked them and five other Black men off to leave the aircraft after their was a complaint of body oder
- No one specifically accused any of them of having offensive body odor, according to their lawsuit. The men said they complained about discrimination
- American offered to rebook them, but when it became clear after about an hour that there were no other available flights to New York that evening, they were allowed to re-board the plane
- American said it was looking into the claims
The lawsuit names the three men, lvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph and Xavier Veal, and accuses American Airlines of ejecting the three men “and five other Black male passengers from American Flight 832 (from Phoenix to JFK), without any valid reason, and solely based on their race.”
The men said airline employees told them they were removed because of a complaint about body odor, which they said was false. No one specifically accused any of them of having offensive body odor, according to their lawsuit. The men said they complained about discrimination.
The lawsuit also states that it appeared to the three men that all of the Black male passengers were being asked to leave the aircraft.
American offered to rebook them, but when it became clear after about an hour that there were no other available flights to New York that evening, they were allowed to re-board the plane, according to the lawsuit filed by Public Citizen, a consumer-advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader.
American said it was looking into the claims.
“We take all claims of discrimination very seriously and want our customers to have a positive experience when they choose to fly with us,” the airline said in a statement. “Our teams are currently investigating the matter, as the claims do not reflect our core values or our purpose of caring for people.”
In 2017, the NAACP warned Black travelers about flying on American, claiming that several African American passengers had experienced discrimination by the airline. American promised changes, and the civil-rights group later lifted the advisory.
