American Airlines is being sued in federal court by three black New Yorkers who say they suffered “blatant and egregious race discrimination” by being kicked off a JFK-bound flight over fake complaints of being smelly.
Xavier Veal, Emmanuel Jean Joseph and Alvin Jackson say they had just boarded a Jan. 5 flight at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport when an American employee ordered them and five others to get off — meaning all the black men were booted, according to their lawsuit filed Wednesday.
“It hit them like a ton of bricks,” their attorney, Michael Kirkpatrick, told the Washington Post of the trio who had never met before the flight.
When they demanded an explanation, they were told by an airline employee that they were removed following a complaint about body odor – even though none of the men were directly accused of having an offensive smell, according to the suit viewed by The Post.
The initial complaint about the odor allegedly came from a white male flight attendant, the suit said.
When the men suggested that they were singled out because of their race, an American Airlines employee allegedly said “I agree, I agree,” according to the lawsuit.
The employee’s response was also verified by a cellphone recording obtained by the Washington Post.
The remaining passengers on the JFK-bound flight were delayed for at least an hour — and were told it was because of a complaint about the men’s body odor, the suit alleges.
Unable to get another flight, the booted passengers were eventually forced to reboard their original flight, the suit said.
They “had to reboard the plane and endure the stares of the largely white passengers who viewed them as the cause of the substantial delay,” the lawsuit read.
“They suffered during the entire flight home, and the entire incident was traumatic, upsetting, scary, humiliating, and degrading,” the filing added.
“We’re walking through the aisle of shame, if you will,” Veal, a production assistant based in Queens, told the Washington Post. “It was horrible. It was a really traumatic experience.”
“Unfortunately, I’m a black man and I live in America. It wakes you back up to the reality that I can’t just go to the store; I can’t just do regular things like take a plane home,” he lamented.
Veal connected with the other two others – Joseph, an actor, and musician Jackson, both of Brooklyn – at the baggage claim when they finally got to JFK, he said.
The men did not know each other before the fateful flight, and never saw the other five men again.
The trio is also seeking serious changes at American Airlines, which has already weathered damning accusations of racism.
In 2017, the NAACP warned black travelers to avoid the airline, citing multiple instances of alleged discrimination, the lawsuit explained.
“None of the White passengers were taken off the plane and humiliated and embarrassed,” Michael Kirkpatrick, the lead lawyer working on the case for the Public Citizen law group, told the Washington Post.
“Somebody should have stepped up and said, ‘Wait a minute. We can’t do this. This is wrong,’” he said. “But instead, nobody stepped up and intervened to stop it from happening.”
American Airlines told The Post: “We take all claims of discrimination very seriously and 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.”
