A retired police officer and his wife have filed a federal lawsuit against American Airlines, alleging that they were unjustly singled out for human trafficking investigation during their honeymoon flight from Phoenix to Miami. The incident took place on September 13, 2022.
Anthony Williams, 63, a Black retired law enforcement officer, and his white wife, 34-year-old Katsiaryna Shasholka, were traveling on American Airlines flight 2408. Another passenger reportedly became suspicious simply because the couple was interracial. According to the lawsuit, that passenger assumed Shasholka was being transported against her will and alerted the cabin crew.
Court documents allege the flight attendants made no effort to speak with Williams or Shasholka to clarify the situation. Instead, they relayed the accusation to the captain who alerted authorities. The newlyweds were instructed to remain seated on arrival in Miami as everyone else deplaned. They were escorted off the aircraft and interrogated by Miami-Dade police officers. They claim to have been humiliated and to continue suffering from sleeplessness, anxiety, and panic attacks.
The case highlights how airline and hotel employees are taught to use their prejudices to spot and report human trafficking, and this often works out badly. Flight attendants are told they need to be on the lookout, and you have to sympathize with the position that puts them in. Imagine if they didn’t say something when they could have stopped a bad situation? That would haunt them. So better to raise the accusation or flag innocent people for law enforcement to sort out. And that gives you situations like,
- An African American social service worker was traveling with a white baby and accused of kidnapping by an American Airlines flight attendant as a result. Delta accused grandparents of trafficking their mixed-race grandson.
- Armed Port Authority police boarded an American Airlines plane at New York JFK because a flight attendant saw an Asian American woman follow her hispanic husband to the lavatory (he was feeling unwell) and saw that they shared an orange juice. The flight attendant called for a sex trafficking investigation. It found their drivers licenses displayed the same home address because they were married, just different races. American accused a black musician of trafficking his mixed-race kids, too.
- Cindy McCain once fabricated a story about catching a toddler being trafficked at the Phoenix airport.
- Southwest Airlines demanded to see Facebook posts when a white mother checked in with her mixed-race son, claiming this was ‘federal law’.
This family is on a holiday weekend adventure to support @Kenzie4bs at @usabasketball U18 trials. 💙💛🐻 pic.twitter.com/cbAcRdKyhJ
— Lindsay Gottlieb (@CalCoachG) May 26, 2018
Hotel staff, too, are trained by the Department of Homeland Security to report guests with too many used condoms in the trash, as well as:
- frequent use of the “Do Not Disturb” sign (you’re tired and don’t want to be bothered)
- guests who avert their eyes or don’t make eye contact (you’re tired and don’t want to be bothered)
- people with “lower quality clothing than companions” (no one ever accused me of fashion)
- people who have “suspicious tattoos” (which just means you’re from Austin or Portland)
- having multiple computers, cell phones, and other technology (you’re a blogger)
- “presence of photography equipment” (you’re a blogger)
- refusal of cleaning services for multiple days (you ‘made a green choice’ or ‘fear Covid’)
- rooms paid for with cash or a rechargeable credit card (you have to unload your gift card purchases somehow)
- guests with few personal possessions (you refuse to check a bag because you’re a frequent traveler)
See something, say something, when you’re encouraging amateurs to do it, leads to so many false positives that real cases of sex trafficking seem likely to get less attention. Employees think they are ‘trained’ when they’re really using their prejudices – often, though not always, involving mixed race customers.
(HT: GUWonder)
Wrong, wrong, wrong. The AA FA should have reported the woman for possible elder abuse and trying to defraud the retired man.
Wishing Mr. Williams the best in his suit; hopefully he gets a decent payout for his troubles.
Cases like these detract from the actual trafficking, which should be investigated, prosecuted.
Nobody has a right to not be interrogated in an airport. Frivolous lawsuit and transparent money grab.
OMG! Have these flight attendants ever actually caught real traffickers? These stories are just crazy!!
Suing and playing the race card how typical. Doubt they will win unless AA pays something for it to go away as a nuisance. A passenger reported a concern to a FA who relayed it to the captain. No way they are going to confront the couple on the flight. Then They were questioned and let go. No harm no foul. If an airline ignored such a warning and there was a case of trafficking that is way worse than a little embarrassment
BTW a 34 year old woman with a 63 year old man, regardless of race, is creepy
A schwing and a-miss! Meanwhile AA has willfully trafficked how many hundreds, if not thousands of illegal immigrants over the last four years on tickets bought by NGO’s and with other gov’t funds? Some FA’s raised the bullsh*t flag and were ignored or told to stay in their aisle (lane). So maybe these folks will get a nice settlement for AA’s stupidity.
“Imagine if they didn’t say something when they could have stopped a bad situation? ”
Has this ever happened? Have they ever intercepted a trafficking situation?> How many times? There are lots of false positives, as you illustrated.
It may be better to NOT have untrained amateurs as people-trafficking police.
What may be the best way of approaching this is something my wife saw in Atlantic City. In the women’s restrooms there were numerous signs giving a number to call if one was being trafficked. If the airlines put something like that in the lavatories and added that cabin crew members would protect anyone who asked for help maybe a few people would come forward. But expecting amateurs to identify victims seems almost like asking bank customers to catch potential robbers. That would not end well.
“BTW a 34 year old woman with a 63 year old man, regardless of race, is creepy”
Not if you’re the dude.
That creature ain’t White.
“If you see something, say something” is one of the worst phrases in modern life, along with the concept of “zero tolerance”. The FA union should be up in arms about the position they’re in and they should reject all calls by law enforcement to work for them for free without training, pay and benefits. Especially training.
What age difference is not creepy, 24 years?
I guess the fact nobody wants to travel with me is a plus here.
I would like for one of these lawsuits to go to trial and have a very large award. After that maybe the airlines would train their employees correctly and this stupidity wouldn’t happen.
@Dave W.
‘One is the loneliest number…’ yet, the ‘1’ in a 1-2-1 or 1-2 seat configuration is kind of the best, isn’t it?
Like, sure, some prefer to sit beside their partner, family, or friend, BUT… having both the window and the aisle… that simply cannot be beat.
Also, sure, less false accusations of human trafficking is… a plus!
A passenger who was told to stay in their seat upon arrival at the gate could, at some risk, simply ignore the instructions and leave. It would then be up to the airline crew to decide what to do in response from nothing all the way to attempting to restrain them physically.,
14 CFR 121.580 says that “No person may assault, threaten, intimidate, or interfere with a crewmember in the performance of the crewmember’s duties aboard an aircraft being operated under this part.” The operative words in this case would be “interfere with the crew member in the performance of the crewmember’s duties.” Since the crewmember’s duties arguably to not include looking for human trafficking, a case could be made that passenger was not interfering with their duties and was therefore within their rights to ignore these particular instructions.
While there is generally little to no recourse against individuals who report behavior to authorities, even if the person is motivated by racist beliefs, acting, even in good faith, under the cover of authority is an entirely different matter. That’s why the language of 121.580 includes the language “in the performance of the crewmember’s duties.” If you aren’t interfering or whatever instructions you are being given are beyond the scope of their duties, then you aren’t violating the statute.
Of course until it’s tested in court and held that forbidding a passenger to leave an airplane is outside their duties the risk is that a court might take the opposite view. But giving crewmembers the right hold passengers onboard essentially at will merely by invoking that they, a private citizen, think the person might be doing something for which there is no real evidence raising all kinds of questions.
Frankly I can’t imagine why a crewmember would give a command to remain onboard or why an airline would permit let along encourage their employees to so . Just have them report whatever they like over the radio, then as the passengers deplane let the police deal with it however they see fit.
AC wrote…
‘BTW a 34 year old woman with a 63 year old man, regardless of race, is creepy’
Are you a moron? What if they are coworkers, friends, or related?
Stupid chimpanzee.
Flight attendants should not say anything, period. If you see something, shut up and pour the drinks, and if you don’t see something, shut up and pour the drinks.
Wow — why would the FA not just strike up a conversation with the couple? “Hi, how are you guys doing? Traveling together? Vacation?” More likely the FA would have received a compliment for being friendly and engaging than a complaint about stupid profiling stereotypes.
Completely off topic and strictly for your entertainment dollar but given the comments regarding the age difference: There is a “Creepy” test for age differences. Take the age of the older person, divide it in half and add 7 years. If they’re still older than the younger person, it’s kinda creepy. Based on the Creepy test, a 63-year-old man with a 34-year-old woman is kinda creepy.
Sorry old men, but that’s official.
I’m much older now but I’m so grateful Cindy McCain saved me. Thank you auntie Cindy!