Three African Americans File a Lawsuit Against American Airlines for Alleged Racial Discrimination

After being removed from an American Airlines flight owing to a “body odor” complaint, three black males filed a racial discrimination lawsuit.

In a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination, three black men have accused American Airlines of briefly removing them from an aircraft after receiving a body odor complaint.

The guys allege that every Black man on the January 5th aircraft from Phoenix to New York was removed, despite the fact that they were not sitting together and did not know one another.

The men released a statement saying, “American Airlines singled us out for being Black, embarrassed us, and humiliated us.” The Texas-based airline declared that the claims are inconsistent with company beliefs and that it is looking into the matter.

A flight attendant urged the males to get off the aircraft, but they had already taken their seats and were getting ready to leave, according to the federal lawsuit Public Citizen filed. As they were departing, Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, and Xavier Veal claim they were aware that “every Black man on the flight was being removed.”

That day, the men had flown out of Los Angeles before, without any problems. A flight attendant, a white man, informed them and the other five passengers that they had been “removed because an unidentified passenger’s body odor had complained” at the aircraft gate. The men claim that racial discrimination is the only possible explanation.

Employees of American Airlines tried to rebook the men on other flights, but that evening there were none available to New York. They were eventually permitted to board the original flight again.

“We take all claims of discrimination very seriously and want our customers to have a positive experience when they choose to fly with us,” American Airlines stated in a statement. The assertions do not align with our fundamental principles or our mission to provide care for people, thus our teams are looking into the situation right now.

In addition, the lawsuit alleges that while the men were waiting outside the aircraft, the pilot reported a delay because of a problem with “body odour.” The plaintiffs assert that this allegation is untrue and that they felt a great deal of worry, humiliation, embarrassment, rage, and suffering during the journey.

Mr. Joseph, one of the plaintiffs, likened the “alienating” experience to the 1955 bus incident involving Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks. He underlined that the goal of the case is to make sure that American Airlines is not given a “slap on the wrist” but rather goes to court.

Due of prejudice, the NAACP issued a travel warning in 2017 advising Black Americans to stay away from American Airlines. However, the advisory was revoked the following year after the airline disclosed operational changes.