American Airlines settles race discrimination lawsuit

20/12/2024 6:13

American Airlines has agreed

to settle a race discrimination lawsuit by three Black men who

were temporarily removed from a flight at the insistence of

white flight attendants, according to a court filing on

Thursday.



The terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but lawyers

for the men said the settlement includes "a commitment by

American to take action to prevent discrimination in the

future."



The plaintiffs had claimed that they and five other Black

men were removed from a New York-bound flight out of Phoenix,

Arizona, in January for about an hour after white flight

attendants complained about a passenger with offensive body

odor, in a lawsuit filed in Brooklyn federal court in May.



None of the men ordered off the plane had an odor, the

plaintiffs said in the lawsuit. They called the incident

"traumatic, upsetting, scary, humiliating, and degrading."



The men accused the airline of violating a Civil War-era law

banning race discrimination in contracts.



American Airlines did not immediately respond to a request

for comment. When the lawsuit was filed, the airline said it

takes discrimination claims seriously and was investigating the

matter.



Lawyers for the three men who sued said American had fired

the flight attendants involved in the incident and expressed a

commitment to "delivering a positive experience to customers who

choose to fly with the company."



In 2017, the NAACP urged Black travelers not to fly

American, citing what it said were a series of racially-based

incidents. The civil rights organization withdrew its advisory

the following year after the airline agreed to update its

policies and train employees on implicit bias.