American Airlines Facing Discrimination Lawsuit For Removal Of 8 Black Men From Flight
American Airlines has found itself on the wrong side of racial discrimination allegations once again. Three Black men sued the company for wrongfully removing eight total Black men from a flight this past January.
Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, and Xavier Neal filed their discrimination lawsuit through the federal court on Wednesday (May 29). Their January flight was set to go from Phoenix to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, but they claimed that they, along with five other Black men, were removed from the flight “without any valid reason, based solely on their race.” Notably, none of the men knew each other nor were they seated together.
The eight Black men were told to leave the plane and return to the gate so they could be rebooked for another flight. “In fact, it appeared to Plaintiffs that American had ordered all of the Black male passengers on Flight 832 off the plane,” the lawsuit stated. Upon exiting the plane and returning to the gate, the men learned that someone on the flight had complained of body odor. Jackson, Joseph, and Veal claimed they were never told that they had body odor.
The Plaintiffs claimed that they were being mistreated due to their race and an American Airlines staff member responded by saying that she “did not disagree,” per the lawsuit. AA was unsuccessful in rebooking them on a later flight, so all eight Black men who were removed were permitted to reenter the flight after nearly an hour.
“Plaintiffs then had to reboard the plane and endure the stares of the largely white passengers who viewed them as the cause of the substantial delay,” the lawsuit stated. “They suffered during the entire flight home, and the entire incident was traumatic, upsetting, scary, humiliating, and degrading.” American Airlines submitted a statement to NPR stating they took all claims of discrimination “very seriously” and that their “teams are currently investigating the matter” because the claims do not reflect their core values or “purpose of caring for people.”
“Imagine a flight attendant ordering every white person off a plane because of a complaint about one white person,” the Plaintiffs said. “That would never happen. But that is what happened to us. There is no explanation other than the color of our skin… clearly, this was discrimination.”
This lawsuit comes just a few months after a Chicago woman threw similar allegations American Airlines’ way. Pamela Hill-Veal claims a flight attendant confronted her after she used the first-class restroom and accused her of slamming the bathroom door, saying it was inconsiderate to the passengers who were sleeping. Hill-Veal denied slamming the door in an interview with NPR and, notably, was flying first class with her family.
AA also had incidents with celebrities in 2023. Track star Sha’Carri Richardson was forced to exit her flight after an argument with an attendant. Richardson claims she was being harassed and that the attendant was trying to intimidate her, per Axios. Musician David Ryan Harris was traveling with his two biracial children in September 2023 and was stopped and questioned on suspicion of child trafficking.
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