The NAACP is threatening to reinstate a travel ban for American Airlines over an incident that saw it remove eight Black men from a flight last month because a flight attendant said that an unidentified passenger had body odor.
“Recent discriminatory actions from company employees prove that there is a dire need for continued accountability and resolution to this clear pattern,” NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in a statement.
This wouldn’t be the first time American Airlines has had issues with the NAACP, as the civil rights organization issued a travel advisory for the airline in 2017 after multiple reports of discrimination.
At the time, the NAACP cited four separate incidents that were deemed “alarming” and showed Black Americans were subjected to “disrespectful, discriminatory, or unsafe conditions” when interacting with the airline.
Since then, American Airlines has invested in a diversity, equity, and inclusion panel, resulting in the NAACP lifting its ban in July 2018.
However, that panel was disbanded last year, and now the NAACP is again calling on the company to respond to the allegations of discrimination.
Last month’s incident isn’t the only one that has been brought to the NAACP’s attention, as several notable figures, including track star Sha’Carri Richardson, retired Circuit Judge Pamela Hill-Veal, and musician David Ryan Harris, have all had run-ins with the airline since 2023.
In response to getting kicked off the plane last month, three of the eight Black men have filed a lawsuit against American Airlines. In it, they allege that the airline’s employees forced them and the other Black male passengers to deboard a flight from California to New York.
In the suit, the men say they were not initially given a reason. But after demanding one multiple times, a representative said a white male flight attendant had complained about an unidentified passenger’s body odor.
However, none of the men removed were overtly accused of having an offensive odor, the lawsuit shares.
“We encourage American Airlines to come revive the advisory panel and reconvene with the NAACP to devise a path forward that ensures equitable experiences for all American Airlines customers,” Johnson said. “Without a swift and decisive response, the NAACP will be forced to reinstate an advisory against the airline.”
An American Airlines spokesperson shared in a statement to The Hill that it has “worked with the NAACP to institute education and training programs to address issues of bias on our aircraft and within our hiring practices to eliminate bias and create a workforce and customer experience that represents the customers we serve.”