An Air France passenger flying from Paris to Washington Dulles switched seats to a new coach middle because her seat back entertainment screen wasn’t working. She’s black, and the passenger next to her was uncomfortable with her taking the seat beside him. Air France made her move because he was uncomfortable.
Crew of the Airbus A350 rebooted the inflight entertainment system twice but failed to get it working, so they suggested she move to a nearby seat so she’d have access to content for the 8 hour 35 minute flight.
She grabbed the seat that turned out to be between a father at the aisle and his son in the window. And the man began interrogating her over the move, asking why she’s there. She explained she was told to move because of her broken seat. He complained to a flight attendant. And the flight attendant asked her to take a different open seat. Well, now she wasn’t happy!
First off, I don’t care if he’s not happy. I was given permission to sit here. I did not ask you to move from your seat. You did not buy this seat. So why are you asking me–a black woman–to get up and move? If he wants to move, he can get up and move. If he doesn’t want to sit next to someone black, that is not my problem.
There’s an apocryphal story that’s made rounds on the internet since at least the late 1990s about a racist passenger complaining about being seated next to someone they deemed undesirable and demanding a flight attendant do something about it.
A 50-something year old white woman arrived at her seat on a crowded flight and immediately didn’t want the seat. The seat was next to a black man. Disgusted, the woman immediately summoned the flight attendant and demanded a new seat.
The woman said, “I cannot sit here next to this black man.”
The fight attendant said, “Let me see if I can find another seat.”
After checking, the flight attendant returned and stated “Ma’am, there are no more seats in economy, but I will check with the captain and see if there is something in first class.”
About 10 minutes went by and the flight attendant returned and stated “The captain has confirmed that there are no more seats in economy, but there is one in first class. It is our company policy to never move a person from economy to first class, but being that it would be some sort of scandal to force a person to sit next to an UNPLEASANT person, the captain agreed to make the switch to first class.”
Before the woman could say anything, the attendant gestured to the black man and said, “Therefore sir, if you would so kindly retrieve your personal items, we would like to move you to the comfort of first class as the captain doesn’t want you to sit next to an unpleasant person.”
This story was even turned into a public service advertisement in Portugal.
And that’s how it’s done. We’re all forced together inside a metal tube regardless of background. And when you’re seated next to someone you find unpleasant it’s not the airline’s fault nor should it be the airline that ought to compensate. Indeed, it’s the unpleasant person who ought to provide compensation, whether the behavior is racism, clipping toenails inflight or making inappropriate advances.
Still when the airline is in a position to it’s a great way to drop the mic. And it’s a lesson, apparently, that Air France needs to learn.
Live and Let’s Fly points out that race may not have been the motivator.
- The father was looking forward to the extra space he hadn’t purchased.
- And she was sitting between him and his son (they could have offered her the aisle or window to stay together).
- He might have been mad regardless of who moved there – even though he had no right to be.
Ultimately it’s the Air France flight attendants most in the wrong, insisting that she move to placate him and ensure his extra space to spread out. And it’s completely understandable that she’d take it as racially motivated, since he was mad not just that someone was there but that she was there.
Update: An Air France spokesperson shares,
We regret this situation and would like to reiterate that there was no act or intent of discrimination on the part of our crew.
Air France is deeply committed to the values of respect for all and can only regret that the customer felt hurt by the way this incident was handled.
The crew did everything possible to restart the entertainment service on the customer’s original seat, and when it remained inoperative, offered an alternative seat, and then a second one, so as not to separate a family, seating together since the beginning of the flight.
The family in question was surprised to see a passenger come and sit between them 6 hours into the flight and contacted the crew requesting to continue their journey in the same seating configuration. As other seats were available in the cabin, and since the crew is committed to preserving the comfort and well-being of every passenger on the plane, they offered the customer another seat.
We once again regret the misunderstanding and lack of fluidity in the handling of this situation. Subsequently, the crew offered their assistance and support until the end of the flight. Our customer service department has received the claim filed by the customer, to whom we reiterate our apologies, and has been unsuccessfully trying to reach her since the event.
I would love to benefit from a nice bump to first class every time i fly if someone doesn’t like my face and origins 🙂
I don’t necessarily think his response was due to race. I think it was due to the fact that he thought he scored an empty center seat. However how he handled it was probably incorrect. Who was really at fault was the flight attendant. She said have spoke to the passenger beforehand and explain the situation before making it the passengers responsibility to explain everything.
I’m not necessarily going to blame the FA on this. The man, being upset at what happened, could have very well made the remainder of the women’s flight very unpleasant (judging by the interrogation he had already done). Was the man right? No way…however, this is not necessarily of question of him being right or wrong, but more of avoiding further confrontation, either between him and the FA or him and the woman.
Unlike other people, I don’t go right to the FA being on a power trip. In this case, I think the FAs intention may have been good, but the execution was wrong.
Your reasons are much more plausible than hers. The fact that she even brought up race makes me believe that she came across as obnoxious from the outset, and he didn’t want to have to deal with her. She certainly didn’t deserve to be moved, but maybe the father and son did.
Why does everything have to be about race? I will wage 1 million dollars that the real issue here is a passenger was moved to a middle seat between the father and the son. Any parent would be uncomfortable in that situation.
Was about time for some race-based rage-bait on here!
I’m gonna ignore the context of the post, because the headline is enough to achieve ‘outrage.’
So, good news, dear bigots, #45/47 is back, and He’s ‘right about everything,’ so you can be as inappropriate and downright hateful as you wish on here and elsewhere…
No consequences, whatsoever, so long as you’re w…ell, never mind.
(*getting punched in the face may occur if IRL. On the internet, all is fine. Some of us may mock you, though, so prepare for that.)
In all seriousness, @Rion has the right take, here. Just misunderstandings and misplaced expectations. And while we should respect the FA’s, as @Evan suggests, it is the crew’s responsibility to better manage and de-escalate these situations.
Or… we can use words like ‘trash’ to describe our perceived ‘enemies.’ Don’t worry, @Fred, you’re so ‘superior.’ And nice ‘thinly-veiled’ animus with that fake-name.
@Walter Barry (and the others) — Give us your worst, sir(s)! We’re waiting…
Everyone who wants to play ostrich about race and racism can do as they wish. What I know is that in the past year I have been called a “DEI hire” despite growing up in the US, putting myself through college and more than one graduate degree.
When I shared this with a colleague the response was “oh, he’s not racist. He’s just concerned about immigration.” Funny thing is both can be true.
As we know, there is intent and there is optics. Optics cannot be ignored. I dunno if the pax was racist or not, but his behavior is a concerning look.
*cough* TDS *cough* Epstein *cough*
@Parker — Just want to be clear, I’m not trolling you, at all; just preemptively trolling the typical rightwing trolls that inevitably will be here in full-force soon enough. A story with a ‘black’ lady in it is like catnip to them.
Likely he was pissed the middle seat got taken. Not so much race. But when you sit in coach that’s the breaks. Don’t expect an empty middle seat. Don’t one someone sitting right next to you? Do what I do, pay to upgrade. Problem solved.
@George Romey — Are you joining @Gene’s crusade, WFBF (want first buy first)? Sounds like it!
@FNT Delta Diamond
‘ I will wage 1 million dollars that the real issue here is a passenger was moved to a middle seat between the father and the son. Any parent would be uncomfortable in that situation.’
In that case, don’t roll the dice and assume the middle seat will be empty. You have no right to complain or be uneasy.
@Jon F — While you’re probably correct, since it’s the internet, and nothing matters anymore, why not wager a ‘gazillion’ dollars?
Drew Carey said it best: “…where everything’s made up and the points don’t matter.” (‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’)
@1990 I’m at an age that I’m just not into complete strangers bumping up right next to me. Lucky for me I have the means to fly upfront. Otherwise, I probably would not be flying.
People traveling together book an aisle and a window thinking most surely the middle seat will go empty. Most surely they think wrong.
What this moron should have done is offered the aisle to the woman and then sat right next to his son.
Everyone is acting badly here except for the kid.
However, the perfect end to this story would be if the father replied, “Race has nothing to do with it – I wouldn’t want to sit next to a white person who weighed 350 pounds either.”
The thing to remember about social media stories is, everyone is the hero in their own story. They rarely reveal all the facts about a particular situation.
He didn’t complain until she sat down, so maybe she was obese or overly-perfumed, as women of a certain hue too often are.
Don’t deny. All ‘stereotypes’ come from a truth everyone understands, which is why stereotypes stick around.
@George Romey — I’m with you, personally; I *can* sit anywhere, but I prefer to sit up-front, ideally on aircraft with 1-2-1, or 2-2 seat configurations, lie-flat (suites, doors, etc.), then the recliners; the Europeans do that regional ‘business’ class with the 3-3, middle blocked, which is ‘fine,’ but not ‘great.’ Earlier on, sure, I’ve attempted the aisle-window booking with my partner, and hoped for the open middle, but that rarely works out well; for airlines without a ‘First’ class, why not try, but can’t be too upset when the airline actually sells/fills the middle. And, I do agree with your suggestion on what the ‘moron’ should have done. Would anything here be ‘Cluster B,’ or is it just not that severe? Bah!
The fact that the father and son were sitting with an empty seat between them is odd enough, suggesting that he didn’t pay for seat assignments. The fact that he was upset that someone was now taking up the empty seat he didn’t pay for is bad enough. He could have offered to swap seats, but instead he complained to the flight attendant. The fact that the flight attendant reacted to placate him at the cost of the already inconvenienced woman is a double-blunder. The airline can and should do better. Not only would that have eliminated any chance of their actions being perceived as racist, but it would not have encouraged the behavior of the gentleman who felt entitled to something he did not pay for.
@J Cline — Nah, you’re just reinforcing a ‘negative stereotype.’ Plenty of folks from all sorts of different backgrounds can over or under use products. You ever been around an Italian? Marone! Oh, what, is Italian a protected class now? Well, it could be. Ethnicity. Nationality. Yeah, it might.
So, fine, you apparently have a prejudice against ‘women of a certain hue’ (you meant ‘black women’); now, if you were to act upon that prejudice, say, if you were a hiring manager at a medium to large sized company (like more than 5 employees), and you explicitly stated that you don’t ‘like’ black women because of ‘the way they smell,’ (which, again, is what you suggested above) that’d probably be discrimination, a lawsuit, a pay out for that lady, maybe you get terminated by that employer, but only if they get evidence that you said that (like, someone else in your company blew the whistle on you). So, the lesson here is if you’re gonna be a hate-filled bigot, keep it to yourself, don’t say or write it down! *facepalm*
Perhaps the FA could have found a better choice of empty seat with a little effort. Nobody is going to welcome giving up an empty middle in their row but better to habe chosen a row with what appear to be two random adults.
Entitled and Uppity black woman, shocker.
Can’t imagine why they are least desired on dating sites including by other black men.
@Walter Barry — What took you so long!
“ women of a certain hue”
The people trying to argue that race wasn’t a factor often end up proving that race probably was a factor.
@Total — Yeah, while what @J Cline said wasn’t cool; at the same time, race and other ‘culture war’ topics are often a distraction from the very real class war, which is the actual issue of our time (and all time). The rich are getting richer, while the poor, of all races and backgrounds, get screwed. It’s why posts like this (and ones on immigration, etc.) remind me of the “Two Minutes Hate” from 1984, a ‘form of mass manipulation, channeling the citizens’ frustrations and anxieties towards politically expedient targets, thus reinforcing the Party’s power and suppressing dissent.’ Probably should ‘do something’ about all this; maybe demand better for all people, workers, etc. Or not, just keep Fox on.
Depending on timing, the flight attendant may have been up against an on time departure. Maybe the flight attendant should have indicated that waiting until the seatbelt sign is turned off and then assisting the passenger in finding another seat. Bringing race into this matter was stupid. Unless I actually hear a racist remark, the blame will be with the person claiming racism. “You’re doing this because I’m (issue de jour). Then, I will shut down any further discussion.
@Win Whitmire — Ah, the ole ‘I’m not racist, you’re racist!’ Classic!
@Win Whitmire — Next, give us an ‘I don’t see color’… *chef’s kiss*
@Win Whitmire — One more. Can’t resist. Recall the Presidential debate in October 2020, when #45 claimed he was the “least racist person in the room.” Give that one a try, too. Works every time!
Sigh – gotta play the race card – the only one in her deck. As others stated I suspect her race or sec was the least of the reasons the guy was upset but sad and pathetic she goes there first!
When they promptly jump to it’s because I’m X it probably has nothing to do with X.
@Loren — So true, just like ‘less is more,’ but also, ‘more is more,’ sometimes.
Or, you could say, things really are just… ‘black and white’… *gulp*
I live in Honolulu and I’m fying to Asia or the Mainland ALOT. Once the seatback entertainment was not working on a 9 hour flight to Tokyo. I did not bother the FA about it. I slept. Thems the breaks.
Also on mainland flights to Hawaii many times there is no seatback entertainment on United.
I suspect the guy was pissed his middle seat was taken.
@DIrk Disco — Oh, you missed out, buddy. Gary had something like that happen on his AA flight to Sydney (he posted about it) and got ample points as a consolation prize. If that ‘incident’ was recent, you should at least ask for something. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” (Was that one Wayne Gretzky, or Michael Jordan?)
Dad’s got an empty middle seat between him and the kid for the start of a long flight. Someone (for good reason) moves into that seat. Jesus Christ could have moved into the middle seat and he would not have been happy about it.
That’s all there is here folks!
Why doesn’t the father just move to the middle seat? Problem solved
“Why does everything have to be about race?” ask all the white people for whom race has never and will never be an issue. People who aren’t followed around stores by security. People who aren’t shot willy nilly when pulled over for driving while black. People who aren’t “seen” in lines while everyone goes ahead of them. Out in public spaces, it is about race every time for POC. Even if it was just typical and the usual sickening white male privilege card he was playing, the fact is, I don’t think this would have happened the same way if it was another white male who had taken the seat.
Some of you need time in reflection…
Regardless of where this customer sits, she will sit next to a person who is disappointed because there is now a human being seated next to them and not an empty seat.
@Cynthia S Wilson — Louder, for the people in the back!
I’m pretty keenly aware of racism and god knows there’s a lot of it around and a lot of dog whistles to the racists using terms like “The race card” because they think that hides their racism. In this case I’m not at all sure that this is about race at all but some guy who played the seat lottery by reserving two seats with an empty one in the middle. In this case the guy lost and was a complete jerk about it. I don’t see any particular indication of racism but lots of lack of social graces. I personally don’t think the flight attendant should have indulged the jerk but that’s just my opinion.
The problem here is people selecting the window and isle seats hoping no one will buy the middle seat. When someone pulls this stunt and it doesn’t work out, they can (1) offer the person in the middle seat the window or isle (the person has the right to say “no”), or (2) they can keep their mouth shut. Perhaps airlines should restrict passengers traveling on the same reservation from being able to select a window and isle seat while leaving the middle seat open.
The OP put in the caption “Extreme Racism on Air France Flight”.
Well. why do you hang out with this supposed friend of yours if she is so racist?
Wanting to sit next to your kid but not wanting to pay for it? I think that makes him a little naive maybe, but labeling him a racist is def pushing it.
To be fair, it doesn’t necessarily sound like racism is the driving force here, given that you had two related people booking a window and an aisle seat.
To be fair, we have plenty of situations where there are legitimate racial overtones, such as a black family getting a house appraised lower than when the same house is redecorated to look like a white family lives there.
Or reading comments that routinely propagate negative stereotypes regarding various ethnic groups.
So it goes both ways.
Kudos to Air France for its explanation – detailed and correct.