American Airlines put a strange number of employees on leave for their involvement in a movement in which several Black passengers were exported from a flight in Phoenix, allegedly over a complaint about body odor.
American CEO Robert Isom expressed in a note to staff that the incident was unlawful.
“I am highly disappointed by what occured on that flight and the breakdown of our processes,” Isom said in the note this week. “It contradicts our worths. … We fell short of our commitments and failed our users in this situation.”
Three Black passengers sued the airplane last month, charging that they were exported from the January flight because of racial discrimination. They said they were told that a white male flight attendant had complained about an unspecified passenger’s body odor.
The men said they did not familiar with each other and were seated separately while waiting for the plane to fly to New York. The three said they were among eight passengers – all the Black men on the flight, they expressed – who were told to depart from the plane.
After a pause of about an hour, they were permitted back on the plane.
Isom said American would form an advisory team to focus on the experience of Black users, to promote the reporting of discrimination allegations, and to enhance diversity training to “focus on real-world situations to assist recognize and address bias and discrimination.”
American have faced allegations of discrimination in the last year. In 2017, the NAACP warned Black movers about flying on the airline, claiming that several African American customers had faced discrimination from airline employees. American promised to make variations, and the NAACP lifted the advisory nearly nine months later.