US airline suspends staff after black men kicked off flight
Several employees of American Airlines have been placed on leave due to their role in an incident where black passengers were removed from a flight following a complaint about body odor.
In May, three passengers filed a lawsuit against the airline, alleging racial discrimination in connection with the incident that occurred on January 5th.
In a communication to staff, CEO Robert Isom expressed that the incident was unacceptable and acknowledged that the company had not met its commitment to its customers.
“We are taking action against those responsible, including taking team members off duty,” the airline stated in a release.
The company has also introduced several initiatives aimed at preventing similar occurrences, including the establishment of an advisory group focused on the experience of black passengers.
According to the lawsuit filed in May, three men, who were not seated together and did not know each other, reported that every black male passenger was removed from the flight between Phoenix, Arizona and New York City.
A total of eight passengers were removed.
“American Airlines singled us out for being black, embarrassed us, and humiliated us,” they said in a statement.
The three men – Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, and Xavier Veal – were eventually allowed to re-take their seats on their original flight.
In a letter to employees dated 18 June, Mr Isom said he was “incredibly disappointed by what happened on the flight and the breakdown of our procedures”.
“We fell short of our commitments and failed our customers,” he said.
He added that the airline is “steadfast in our commitment” to working with civil rights organisations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, to “rebuild trust”.
The incident is not the first time that American Airlines has faced allegations of discrimination.
In a separate incident in 2017, the NAACP warned black travellers to avoid the airline, citing a pattern of “disrespectful” and “discriminatory” behaviour as well as a “corporate culture of racial insensitivity and possible racial bias”.
They lifted the advisory the following year after the carrier announced it had made changes to its operations.
On 4 June this year, however, it warned that it could reinstate the warning unless American gave a “swift and decisive response” to the January incident.
