A Black woman has accused Delta Airlines of moving her to the back of a plane during the flight.
Camille Henderson declared she boarded a flight from Atlanta to San Francisco on February 3. She smoothly boarded the plane and took her window seat. Herderson said that the last two passengers to board the plane were complaining with flight attendants due to seating arrangement. The two white women were expecting to be seated in first-class seats following a phone call they had with a Delta representative. However, they didn’t have first-class tickets. Instead, they had the middle and aisle seats aside Henderson’s seat.
I don’t want to be the angry Black woman that doesn’t listen to the rules, even though the rules were that I paid for a seat and I went to my seat and I didn’t ask to move.
Camille Henderson
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Herderson said that both women were complaining due to the lack of space and the inconvenience of being seated where they were instead of first class. After being denied by a flight attendant to move to first-class seats, the two women called over another flight attendant to explain their seating situation. But, again, the flight attendant refused to switch their seats as the women did not have appropriate first-class tickets.
While Henderson was trying to sleep, a flight attendant came back and asked her if she could move to give the two women more room. To avoid making any complaints, Henderson agreed and was moved to an aisle seat in the back of the plane. “I don’t want to be the angry Black woman that doesn’t listen to the rules, even though the rules were that I paid for a seat and I went to my seat and I didn’t ask to move,” said Henderson.
When she moved to the back, the entire plane was looking at her and she felt embarrassed, explained Henderson. She added that there were several open seats in the back of the plane, where the two white women could have been seated instead. “I just felt like I was put under the spotlight, and I really should not have. There was no need for me to move. There were all of these open seats in the back, even if it meant separating them. I don’t know why they didn’t move them,” she said.
After landing, Henderson’s conversation with a Delta customer service representative did not alleviate her frustration. When Henderson pointed out that she had been humiliated during the flight, the Delta supervisor cut her off by saying, “You had a main cabin ticket. When they moved you, you still had a main cabin seat […] At this area of reservation, I wouldn’t be able to compensate you.”
Henderson pointed out to the Delta representative that the purpose of her call was just an acknowledgement as to what happened during the flight, and not to have her money back.
Once the representative told her that there was nothing else he could do, Henderson decided to take her story to the media The Daily Beast.
However, The Daily Beast reached out to Delta Airlines Corporate Communications, but an appropriate representative did not respond to a request for comment.
