Three black passengers excluded from an American Airlines flight file a complaint: the company accuses them of “unpleasant body odor”

Three black passengers on an American Airlines flight filed a complaint of "discrimination" on May 29, 2024. In January, they, along with five other black men, were excluded from a plane because of their "unpleasant body odor" according to the company. They denounce a racist act.

According to them, they were expelled "without any valid reason, based solely on their race", cites CNN. Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph and Xavier Veal filed the complaint Wednesday. Kicked off a plane, along with five other passengers – blacks also – they point out "blatant racial discrimination". An hour later, they were finally able to get back on board.

Eight black passengers deported

The story dates back to January 5. American Airlines staff ask eight passengers on a Phoenix-New York flight to exit the plane. The people concerned are black, and three of them ended up filing a complaint, criticizing a racist act.

The complaint consulted by our colleagues across the Atlantic indicates that "once they reached the gangway, they saw that several other black men were also being removed from the aircraft. In fact, it appeared to plaintiffs that American Airlines had ordered all black passengers on Flight 832 off the plane..

None of the complainants were informed that the reason for this expulsion, according to the company, was their smell. Furthermore, the document states, "none of the complainants had an unpleasant body odor".

Finally allowed to board

A representative of the company apparently acquiesced when one of the expelled passengers suggested that he had to leave because of his skin color. The eight men did not know each other, and were seated in different rows.

Finally, after an hour of waiting outside the aircraft, the eight concerned were able to re-enter the flight, due to lack of availability in another plane.< /p>

"The plaintiffs then had to reboard the plane and endure the stares of the passengers, mostly white, who considered them to be the cause of the significant delay. They suffered throughout the entire return flight, and the entire incident was traumatic, upsetting, frightening, humiliating and degrading", the complaint alleges.

Internal investigation

American Airlines responded: "We take all allegations of discrimination very seriously and want our customers to have a positive experience when ;they choose to fly with us."

An investigation has been opened internally, "because the complaints do not reflect our core values ​​or our goal of caring for people".

This is not the first time that the company has been singled out for the pretexts it gives for expulsions. In 2017, reported Le Parisien, a Frenchman had to get off a Dallas-Los Angeles flight because of a "annoying smell".

"We are targeting acts of discrimination and slanderous denunciation because the employees called the police for an alleged disturbance of public order which was not ;did not exist", explained the lawyer for the 27-year-old young man. In fact, the police, once there, found a passenger "calm and polite".