Source: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/Getty/American Airlines
American Airlines' current motto is “Let good take flight,” but that was not the case for three black male passengers.
The airline is now the subject of a racial discrimination lawsuit after three black men, who they say do not know each other, were ordered off their flight in January.
The three men filed their lawsuit in New York federal court on Wednesday, May 29, alleging that they, along with five other black men, were asked to get off a Phoenix flight before it departed.
The Grio References The men were seated in different sections of the plane and said an airline employee informed them they were removed because a flight attendant complained about a passenger's body odor.
The men believe that their removal from flight is solely due to their race.
The lawsuit filed by Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group founded by Ralph Nader, says American Airlines offered to rebook their flights but allowed the men back on the plane after it became clear there were no other flights to New York.
American Airlines is investigating the incident
Susan Huhta, an employment attorney in Washington, D.C., who represents the three men, said: “If American Airlines received a complaint about a black passenger with offensive body odor, but could not verify the complaint, the remedy should not have been was to kick eight separate black men off the plane.”
“We take all allegations of discrimination very seriously and want our customers to have a positive experience when they choose to fly with us,” American Airlines said in a statement. “Our teams are currently investigating the matter as the allegations do not reflect our core values or our purpose of caring for people.”
This latest incident comes after American Airlines said it would make changes after the The NAACP issued a warning in 2017 to black travelers about booking flights with the airline because of several African-American passengers who said they experienced racial discrimination.