Due to their involvement in an incident wherein multiple Black customers were removed from an aircraft in Phoenix, purportedly due to a body odor complaint, American Airlines placed an undisclosed number of personnel on leave.
The event was unacceptable, American CEO Robert Isom wrote in a message to staff.
“I am incredibly disappointed by what happened on that flight and the breakdown of our procedures,” Isom stated in the note this week. “It contradicts our values. … We fell short of our commitments and failed our customers in this incident.”
Alleging racial discrimination led to their removal from the January flight, three Black passengers filed a lawsuit against the airline last month.
They claimed to have been informed that the body odor of an unnamed passenger had been brought to their attention by a white male flight attendant.
The men said that they were sat apart and did not know one another as they awaited the plane’s departure for New York. The three claimed to be among the eight passengers—all Black men on the flight, they claimed—who were instructed to get off the aircraft.
The men claimed that after a confrontation with airline staff in the jet bridge, they requested an explanation for their removal. According to their lawsuit, at least one of the guys filmed the conversation, catching an airline employee appearing to acknowledge that the men were the victims of discrimination.
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They were allowed to board the aircraft again after nearly an hour of delay.
The American side remained silent on the number of workers placed on leave or the nature of their positions. “We are holding those involved accountable, including removing team members from service,” an airline official stated.
According to Isom, American would establish an advisory board to advance the reporting of discriminatory claims, concentrate on the experiences of Black consumers, and enhance diversity training by having it “focus on real-world situations to help recognize and address bias and discrimination.”
Isom stated in his note that he had discussed the issue with the NAACP president, as previously reported by CBS News. An inquiry for comment on Thursday was not immediately answered by the civil rights organization.
Allegations of discrimination have been made against Americans recently. The NAACP issued a warning to Black passengers about the airline in 2017, alleging that the airline has discriminated against a number of African American passengers.
After nearly nine months, the NAACP lifted the advice, with American having pledged to make adjustments.
