American Airlines will take new steps, including new training for staff, creating an advisory group and evaluating its policies on removing passengers, following a lawsuit filed by a black passenger who said he was removed from a flight following a complaint about body odor.
Chief Executive Officer Robert Isom called the incident “unacceptable” in a memo to employees on Tuesday. The company said the employees involved had been held accountable and some had been removed from their jobs.
“We are extremely disappointed by what happened on this flight and the breakdown in our procedures,” Isom wrote. “This incident has left us short of our promises and has let our customers down.”
Letter from American Airlines CEO Robert Isom June 18, 2024
In a lawsuit filed in federal court last month, three passengers allege that American Airlines employees removed them and five other black men from their seats on a January flight before it was scheduled to take off from Phoenix. No one ultimately filed charges against the plaintiffs, but an employee reportedly said one of the passengers had complained about body odor.
The men were eventually allowed back onto a flight to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, but the lawsuit called the experience “traumatic, upsetting, frightening, humiliating and degrading.” Three of the men who ultimately filed suit exchanged contact information after the flight but were never reunited with the other five.
American Airlines declined to comment on the lawsuit Thursday. A recent court filing said the plaintiffs and the airline “have agreed to enter into settlement negotiations.”
The allegations have once again put American Airlines under intense scrutiny, several years after the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) issued a travel advisory in 2017 warning that black passengers could experience “disrespectful, discriminatory or unsafe situations” while flying on American Airlines.
Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the NAACP, said the recommendation was lifted next year after American Airlines committed to taking steps to prevent discrimination, including establishing a diversity, equity and inclusion council. In a statement earlier this month, he warned that the NAACP would have to reinstate the recommendation if the airline did not take “swift and decisive action” to address the situation. American Airlines will disband its DEI council in 2023, according to the statement, urging the airline to reinstate it.
In a letter to employees, Isom wrote that he had discussed the NAACP's concerns with Johnson. American Airlines is creating a new “oversight and excellence advisory group” focused on improving the experience for black passengers, Isom said. The airline is also updating its procedures for handling customers who complain of discrimination or bias, revising its operations manual to focus on scenarios that may result in a passenger being removed, and introducing new training to help staff “recognize and address bias and discrimination.”
In an emailed statement Thursday, the NAACP said it had made the advisory committee's return one of the conditions for not issuing any new recommendations.
“The NAACP is pleased that American Airlines has taken this first step to pave the way for a more inclusive experience for all,” the group said. “Unfortunately, while it is common for Black consumers to experience racism and discrimination from companies, it is unusual to see such swift and decisive action. We hope this approach can serve as a model for other companies who may find themselves in similar situations.”
