Three Black Men File Racial Discrimination Lawsuit Against American Airlines Over Body Odor Complaint
Three Black men have filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against American Airlines, alleging that the airline briefly removed them from a flight due to a complaint about body odor.
The men, who were not seated together and did not know each other, claim that every Black man was removed from the January 5 flight from Phoenix, Arizona, to New York.
“American Airlines singled us out for being Black, embarrassed us, and humiliated us,” the men said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
The Texas-based airline stated it was investigating the matter, as the allegations did not align with its values. According to a federal lawsuit filed by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, the men had already taken their seats and were preparing to depart Phoenix when a flight attendant approached each of them and asked them to exit the plane.
Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, and Xavier Veal allege that as they were leaving, they realized that “every Black man on the flight was being removed.”
Each of the men had flown from Los Angeles earlier that day without issue.
At the flight gate, the three men, along with five others, were told by an airline agent that they had been “removed because a white male flight attendant had complained about an unidentified passenger’s body odor.”
“There is no explanation other than the color of our skin,” the men said in a statement on Wednesday, adding: “Clearly this was racial discrimination.”
American Airlines employees attempted to re-book the men on other flights, but no other services to New York were available that night. The group was eventually allowed to re-board their original flight.
American Airlines stated: “We take all claims of discrimination very seriously and want our customers to have a positive experience when they choose to fly with us. Our teams are currently investigating the matter, as the claims do not reflect our core values or our purpose of caring for people.”
The lawsuit adds that while the men waited outside the plane, the pilot announced a delay due to an issue with “body odor.” The plaintiffs assert that the claim about odor was false.
“Throughout the flight—from the moment of their reboarding, in each interaction with the white male flight attendant, and continuing until landing—Plaintiffs experienced profound feelings of embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety, anger, and distress,” the lawsuit states.
“The act of returning to their seats after the unwarranted delay, navigating past the predominantly white passengers, several of whom eyed them with anger and undue suspicion, compounded their humiliation.”
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for the “trauma” the men endured.