Three Black Men sue American Airlines over alleged racial discrimination incident

Three black men have filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against American Airlines, alleging they were briefly removed from a flight after a complaint about body odour.

The incident occurred on January 5 during a flight from Phoenix, Arizona, to New York.

The men, Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, and Xavier Veal, who did not know each other and were not seated together, claim that all black men on the flight were removed following the complaint.

"American Airlines singled us out for being Black, embarrassed us, and humiliated us," the men stated on Wednesday.

The Texas-based airline announced it is investigating the incident, as the allegations do not align with its values. "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 said in a statement.

According to the federal lawsuit filed by the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, the men were preparing for departure when a flight attendant approached each of them and asked them to exit the plane.

Upon leaving, the men noticed that "every Black man on the flight was being removed." They had flown earlier that day from Los Angeles without any issues.

At the gate, an airline agent informed the men, along with five others, that they had been removed due to a complaint from a white male flight attendant about an unidentified passenger's body odour.

The men believe their removal was racially motivated, stating, "There is no explanation other than the color of our skin."

Although American Airlines attempted to re-book the men on other flights, no other services to New York were available that night.

Eventually, the group was allowed to re-board their original flight.

While the men waited outside the plane, the pilot reportedly announced a delay due to an issue with "body odour," a claim the plaintiffs assert was false.

The lawsuit states that the men felt "profound feelings of embarrassment, humiliation, anxiety, anger, and distress" throughout the flight and their interactions with the flight attendant.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for the "trauma" the men endured. Mr. Joseph, one of the plaintiffs, compared the experience to Civil Rights hero Rosa Parks being forced to move to the back of a bus in 1955.

"It's a strange, crazy story that in 2024 we are still going through stuff like this," he said, emphasizing the need for the lawsuit to ensure American Airlines faces consequences.

In 2017, the NAACP issued a travel advisory warning black Americans about potential discrimination with American Airlines.

This advisory was lifted the following year after the airline made changes to its operations.