Six American Airlines passengers are suing American Airlines after they say a black man was singled out on a flight in May and not allowed to change seats like white customers, according to Los Angeles television news station KTLA.
KTLA reported that six passengers said an American Airlines crew member blocked a black man, Elgin Banks, from changing seats after notifying other passengers they were allowed.
“She said, ‘You do not need to raise your voice at me,’ “ fellow passenger Natalie Epstein told the news station. “He did not raise his voice.”
The incident took place on a May 31 flight from Los Angeles to Phoenix.
The report of the lawsuit promoted rapper and actor Ice Cube, who has more than a 5.4 million Twitter followers, to call out American Airlines on the social media platform.
“Black people are having more and more problems with American Airlines,” Ice Cube tweeted. “They need to fix their attitude before I fly them again.”
According to the TV report, Banks was asked to get off the plane and five other passengers demanded an explanation from the crew. The airline reportedly called security, removed all of them from the flight and banned them from flying the Fort Worth-based airline.
American Airlines said in a statement that “the allegations are not a full or accurate portrayal of the incident.”
“Discrimination of any kind is not acceptable and does not align with our values, which is why we launched an investigation when we were made aware of the allegations,” said a statement from spokesman Ross Feinstein.
The airline said Banks was trying to move to a first-class seat after being denied an upgrade request. American said he then moved to a seat that was assigned to another passenger. Passengers told KTLA that security was called because Banks was refusing to leave a first-class seat, even though Banks was not in first-class at the time.
The alleged incident came just hours before American Airlines CEO Doug Parker sent a message to staff members recalling an enlightening conversation about racism he had with a black flight attendant for Southwest Airlines.
“I’m saddened that we as a society have progressed so slowly on an issue that has such as clear right and wrong,” Parker wrote in a note to the Southwest attendant.
American Airlines has come under fire in the past for alleged racist treatment of black passengers, spurring a travel advisory from the NCAAP in 2017 because of a “pattern of disturbing incidents reported by African-American passengers, specific to American Airlines.”
The lawsuit also comes amid growing racial tensions in the United States over the treatment of black Americans by law enforcement and a call for greater understanding about racism in America.
American Airlines has been allowing passengers to move seats in their sections during the COVID-19 pandemic to allow greater social distancing on planes that aren’t full.
“I was scared,” Banks told KTLA. “I didn’t know what was going on.”
This is not the only passenger treatment controversy American has dealt with this week. The airline was sued this week by an Idaho woman and amputee who said she was forced to “scoot” through aisles to get to the restroom after the airline forgot a wheelchair that could fit down plane aisles.
Then on Wednesday, a New York man who refused to wear a face mask was asked to leave a flight to Dallas and then eventually issued a temporary ban from the carrier for not abiding by its mask policy.
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