Three black men sued American Airlines in federal court on Wednesday, saying they were treated unfairly because of their race when they were reportedly kicked off a plane because of body odor.
The men got on a flight in Phoenix on January 5 that was going to New York City. The claim says that an American Airlines worker asked eight passengers, all Black men, to get off the plane. Three of them have a case in court.
The claim says that the plaintiffs, Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, and Xavier Veal, did not know each other and were not sitting next to each other.
Jackson and Jean-Joseph told NBC News on Wednesday that they felt picked on because they were Black and that the incident made them look bad.
“Being put into groups and then being taken away sets off all these things that I don’t think should happen to Black people anymore,” Jackson, 27, said.
As the guys walked down the aisle of the plane, Jean-Joseph said they were made to look like criminals. He said that he hadn’t flown since the accident and that seeing it again made him cry on Wednesday when the case was filed.
He said, “It still hurts me.” “It will be something that bothers me when I get on a plane again.”
It said in a statement that it was looking into what happened 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,” the company said. “We want our customers to have a good experience when they choose to fly with us.”
The lawsuit, which was filed in the Eastern District of New York, says that all eight men got back on the flight about an hour later, after complaining about being treated unfairly and the airline not being able to find them a later trip.
The plaintiffs want to be awarded compensatory damages, which will be decided by a jury.
The lawsuit said, “They suffered the whole flight home, and the whole thing was traumatic, upsetting, scary, humiliating, and degrading.”
The lawsuit also says that American Airlines has a history of mistreating Black passengers. It points to a 2017 NAACP travel advisory that warned Black passengers that their safety could be at risk if they flew American Airlines, citing several incidents of “troublesome conduct” by employees at the time.
At that time, Doug Parker, who was CEO, said that the company does not “tolerate discrimination of any kind” and that the company had talked to the NAACP about its worries.
