American Airlines suspends employees for removing black passengers from plane

Following an incident that took place at the beginning of the year and a consecutive lawsuit, American Airlines has put a number of employees on leave. On 5 January, on flight 832 from Phoenix Airport to New York JFK, eight black passengers (all the black men aboard) were removed from the plane before take-off. The men, who didn’t know each other, were picked out after a white flight attendant complained about their “offensive body odour”. 

Since then, Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph and Xavier Veal, who were eventually able to re-board the flight, have decided to sue the airline for racial discrimination. “They had to re-board the plane and endure the stares of the largely white passengers who viewed them as the cause of the substantial delay”, the lawsuit reads. “They suffered during the entire flight home, and the entire incident was traumatic, upsetting, scary, humiliating, and degrading.”

American Airlines singled us out for being black, embarrassed us, and humiliated us.

Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph and Xavier Veal

Now, American Airlines has put an unknown number of employees involved in the incident on leave. “We want our customers to have a positive experience when they choose to fly with us. Our teams are currently investigating the matter, as the claims do not reflect our core values or our purpose of caring for people. We are holding those involved accountable, including removing team members from service”, the airline said in a statement.

“I am incredibly disappointed by what happened on that flight and the breakdown of our procedures. It contradicts our values. We fell short of our commitments and failed our customers in this incident”, CEO Robert Isom stated in a letter addressed to employees, adding that American Airlines was more than ever committed to working together with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP, in order to “rebuild trust”.

The airline also said it is investigating the matter and will be taking several initiatives in order to prevent a similar situation from happening again, including the creation of an “advisory group” focused on the experience of black passengers. 

In 2017, the NAACP warned black travellers to try and avoid American Airlines because of their “corporate culture of racial insensitivity and possible racial bias”. Even though that warning was lifted one year later, the organisation has already shared it is reevaluating that decision after what happened in January.