Three Black men have filed a federal lawsuit against American Airlines, alleging they were racially discriminated against when they were kicked off a plane due to a body odor complaint.
The plaintiffs, who boarded a flight in Phoenix on January 5, allege an American Airlines employee told eight men, all of whom were Black, to leave the New York City-bound flight without an explanation, according to the lawsuit. Three of them are part of the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs — Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, and Xavier Veal — say they did not know each other and were not seated together.
Upon exiting the plane, an American Airlines representative told the plaintiffs and other Black men they would need to rebook Flight 832 if they wanted to fly, according to a release shared with ESSENCE. As alleged in the complaint, when the plaintiffs demanded an explanation, an American representative explained that they had been removed from the flight because a white male flight attendant complained about an unidentified passenger’s body odor.
The men said the experience humiliated and traumatized them. Following complaints about discrimination and the airline’s inability to book them on a later flight, the eight men reboarded the flight about an hour later, according to the lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of New York.
“What happened to us was wrong. Imagine a flight attendant ordering every white person off a plane because of a complaint about one white person. That would never happen. But that is what happened to us. There is no explanation other than the color of our skin. American Airlines singled us out for being Black, embarrassed us, and humiliated us. Clearly, this was discrimination,” said the plaintiffs in a statement shared with ESSENCE.
“What happened to the plaintiffs strongly suggests that American Airlines racially profiled them. If American Airlines received a complaint about a Black male passenger with offensive body odor but could not verify the complaint, the solution should not have been to eject eight separate Black men from the plane,” said Susan Huhta, partner at Outten & Golden and attorney for the plaintiffs.
“This incident is consistent with a disturbing history of allegations that American Airlines discriminates against Black passengers. We look forward to getting these men justice and, hopefully, decreasing the likelihood that American Airlines ever does this to another Black passenger.”
In a statement to NBC News, American Airlines said it was investigating the incident and that the “claims do not reflect our core values or our purpose of caring for people.”
“We take all claims of discrimination very seriously and want our customers to have a positive experience when they choose to fly with us,” the company said.
The lawsuit also alleges that American Airlines has a documented history of mistreating Black passengers, citing a 2017 NAACP travel advisory warning Black passengers that their safety could be compromised if they flew American Airlines, referencing a series of “troublesome conduct” by employees at the time.