In January, eight black men were removed from an American Airlines Phoenix – New York flight ostensibly due to their odor. The men did not know each other and were not traveling together, and the NAACP threatened to reinstate its travel warning against flying American as a result.
The airline has now settled a lawsuit filed by three of the men – and changed their rules for kicking passengers off of flights. According to American,
American Airlines is committed to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment to all customers. While we cannot comment on the specific details of the settlement, we have reached an amicable resolution regarding the lawsuit filed earlier this year. The agreement allows all parties to move forward and focus on what matters most – ensuring a safe and inclusive travel experience for every customer
The airline has over 130,000 employees, inclusive of mainline and wholly-owned regional carriers. People make mistakes. They use prejudices without realizing it. Sometimes this is a corporate culture issue, sometimes it’s diversity of experiences.
American has also been criticized for being too heavily invested in DEI, so go figure.
The flight attendants responsible for the incident have been fired, and the airline has new procedures for removing passengers from an aircraft. Flight attendants are no longer supposed to be the ones who identify problems with passengers that don’t involve safety or security.
- When there are concerns unrelated to safety or security, those need to be raised by a passenger before any action is taken.
- The goal is to avoid removing a customer, not to remove them.
- No flight attendant can act alone – two crewmembers need to work on resolution.
- While the captain retains authority on passenger removal for safety of the flight, if it’s not a safety/security issue the captain now must contact a Complaint Resolution Official at the airline. And crew must fill out a CERS report.
That is a positive step, and should mean less conflict in the sky. It should address issues where a flight attendant is having a bad day, or where their perception may be different than those of passengers in the cabin.
If attire is an issue, it’s going to have to be because other passengers are complaining, not because an employee subjectively believes a slogan on a t-shirt is inappropriate or short shorts are too short. And when immediate safety isn’t a concern, bringing in the company’s perspective seems like the right move, too.
After the David Dao passenger dragging incident in 2017, United stopped calling law enforcement on customers outside of safety and security issues, and started doing de-escalation training with flight attendants. This training turned out to be useful during the pandemic – United was much less likely than American to divert flights over mask non-compliance. De-escalation rather than passenger removal is a good thing.
Thank god I can afford premium. And not that this is strictly a “coach issue.” Look, regardless or race if someone has rank odor they should not be flying. Why should other passengers, particularly those seated next to or nearby endure an unbathed person for what could be eight hours plus?
Sadly, this is where we are in the year 2024. Adults unable to properly bath themselves. Even if you’re connecting from an International flight you have time to duck into a restroom, wash what you can, apply deodorant, etc.
The next time crew will just say nothing can be done and passengers will be on the unlucky end.
Seriously? What is the obsession with American Airlines?
Do you realize that SIX of TEN posts currently on the first page of this blog pertain, in some way, to American Airlines?
What’s the deal?
@ George — I guess you misunderstood the story. These people were removed for BEING BLACK. That has nothing to do with odor of flying premium.
Nobody with bad BO wants to be emanating bad BO. It’s part and parcel of human nature and products like deodorant only help so much (or not at all, for some people). Deodorants are usually for the underarms only but general body odor is also a thing. Airports are full of people who have been traveling 30 plus hours.
Here are some tips for you to avoid other people’s BO.
1) Smear chapstick on top of your lips, right beneath your nostrils.
2) Wear an N95 mask.
3) Get up and move about the cabin when it’s safe and appropriate.
4) Just sit and bear it. Your nose will adjust and tune out the odor over time.
While I can see this as a positive, I’m not sure if I like the idea of passengers calling things. Flight Attendants are supposed to be professionals and AA did the right thing by firing the FA but we shouldn’t completely take away their power to handle situations professionally.
Was the Captain aware of the decision and give his approval?
When you stink or are sick you shouldn’t be allowed to board and offend or infect others
Anyone!
I think the lawsuit forced American Airlines to do the right thing. We will see if the changes will work correctly in the future.
I have this bad feeling that those 8 passengers did that on purpose just so that they can get publicity and get free money from a major airline.
No one has denied the fact they stunk. Were they or were they not stanky?
So after reading this story… I want to know, like everyone else… removing skin color from the equation, did they or did they not stink? And how is it possible 8 men of all the same ethnicity boarded the flight and had the same problem and didn’t know each other? Something smells with this story.
I wholly agree that the guy with the bad body odor needed to be removed. Period.
However, Romey and Mets Fan, you have the facts of the case wrong. Only one guy stunk. The others did not stink. A flight attendant noted that a black guy had bad body odor. Rather than identify the black guy who had the bad body odor, the crew removed all black guys. It would have been rather easy to identify the offending guy.
This is like LH denying boarding of all Jewish passengers on a flight because one Jewish passenger wasn’t complying with crew instructions.