Three black men filed a lawsuit against American Airlines, claiming they were forced off a plane due to a crew member accusing them of having body odor.
The incident occurred on Flight 832 from Phoenix Airport to New York JFX in January, where all passengers were seated before being singled out and removed following a complaint from a white male flight attendant.
After an hour of searching for another flight, the men were allowed back on the aircraft.
The lawsuit claims: “They had to re-board the plane and endure the stares of the largely white passengers who viewed them as the cause of the substantial delay.
“They suffered during the entire flight home, and the entire incident was traumatic, upsetting, scary, humiliating, and degrading.”
One of the black men, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, told newsmen that he “knew that as soon as I got on that plane, a sea of white faces were going to be looking at me and blaming me for their late flight of an hour.”