Woman alleges Air France asked her to change seat because white passenger didn't want to sit next to someone Black. 'If he doesn’t want to...'
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Woman alleges Air France asked her to change seat because white passenger didn't want to sit next to someone Black. 'If he doesn’t want to...'")
Black woman says Air France asked her to change seat for white man's comfort.
Air France asked a Black woman to change her seat twice, first because her in-flight entertainment unit wasn't working, and then again when a white passenger next to her complained about her taking the empty seat next to him.
Air France is raising eyebrows for siding with a white passenger who did not want to sit next to a Black passenger on the plane. The flight was going from Paris to Washington Dulles, where an attendant changed the white passenger's seat because he was uncomfortable. It started when a female passenger notified the flight attendant that her seatback entertainment screen wasn’t working. She was asked to switch to another seat, after which she moved to a new coach middle. However, the man next to her was unhappy with her sitting there. The Airbus A350 crew checked the entertainment system and restarted it twice. However, it failed to buzz up. The flight was 8 hours and 35 minutes long, and the woman couldn't have gone without it for such a long duration. Also Read: Female American pilot caught boozed before flight during random alcohol testing in Stockholm
The crew suggested she move to another seat. She picked a middle seat and sat there. It was between a father in the aisle seat and his son on the window seat. The man had not paid for the middle seat, and it was simply empty. However, after the woman sat there, he started interrogating her about her move. He asked her why she was sitting there. She told him that her seat was broken. The man was visibly upset about her being there and called the flight attendant. He complained to her about the seat change and the woman next to him. The attendant then asked the woman to move to an open seat. The woman, who was Black, was not happy about being told to change her seat because of someone else. Also Read: Man sneaks his wife into Business Class for sleep time, leaving flight attendant stumped
Air France issues statement on incident
She told View From The Wing, "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?" She added, "If he doesn’t want to sit next to someone black, that is not my problem." Air France came under fire for discriminating against the Black woman and asking her to change seat. Responding to the backlash, the airline issued a statement, stating 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." It added that their only intention was not to "separate a family" seated together.
"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 woman apparently filed a claim against the airline. Air France said it was trying to reach out to her. "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," it said.
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