American Airlines decides to suspend its employees after racial discrimination claims were made

American Airlines suspends staff after removing black passengers from a Phoenix-New York flight, citing body odor complaints. Three men sue for racial discrimination. CEO acknowledges failure, implements new initiatives. NAACP warns of possible travel advisory reinstatement. The incident highlights ongoing discrimination concerns in air travel.

Several of the American Airlines employees, who were involved in the forced eviction of several black passengers off a flight, have been sent to suspension. It happened on 5th of January 2024 and it has led to a legal action and an answer from the airline. 

The case was that one flight from Phoenix Arizona to New York in which eight black male passengers were removed from the plane for smelling bad. Of these passengers, Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, and Xavier Veal have taken legal action against the airline for discriminating them based on race, embarrassing them and humiliating them. 

It became increasingly evident that American Airlines didn’t deliver to its promise to its customers as the company’s CEO Robert Isom stated this in a memo to all employees. ”We are assuming responsibility of persons involved and have taken some of the team members out of service,” the airline acknowledged. 

The company has also disclosed some of the steps that it has taken to prevent the recurrence of such an incident in future, which are; formation of an ‘advisory group’ to improve the experience of black passengers. 

This is not the first time the American Airlines is being accused of racial discrimination against its passengers. The same year, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) issued a travel advisory for black people to avoid flying on the airline due to its ‘disrespectful’ and ‘discriminatory’ behaviour towards the blacks. While this advisory was later lifted in 2018 due to changes in its operations by the airline, the NAACP recently declared that it may reinstate the advisory if American Airlines did not come up with a “swift and decisive response” to the occurrence in January. 

Also Read: Black Men Sues American Airlines For Discrimination Against Black Individuals

Measures and actions being taken at the present time are seen through the actions of American Airlines that initiated litigation and other procedures to address racial discrimination in the airline industry.