'Every Black man...': American Airlines sued for forcing Black passengers to deboard over body odour complaint

American Airlines has been accused of forcing three Black men to deboard a flight following a complaint that an unidentified passenger had body odour, according to a lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed on Wednesday (May 29) by Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph and Xavier Veal in the US district court for the eastern district of New York against the airline.

The alleged incident pertains to a flight the three men took on January 5 from Phoenix, Arizona, to New York, New York.

Racism by American Airlines?

The three Black men were not seated together and had never met each other prior to boarding the flight, according to the lawsuit. But before the takeoff, an American representative approached them individually and asked them to leave the plane without explanation.

According to a press statement, five other Black male passengers were also asked to leave the plane.

"As the plaintiffs began to comply with the directive to deplane, they noticed that the only passengers who were being ordered off the plane were Black men, and it appeared that every Black man on the flight was being removed."

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The men, upon their removal from the flight, were allegedly told by an American representative that they would not be allowed to fly on the flight and would have to rebook their trip.

Asked for an explanation, the men were told that they were removed because a white male flight attendant had complained about an unidentified passenger’s body odor, according to the lawsuit.

“Notably, at no time did anyone accuse any of the plaintiffs of having offensive body odor,” the press statement said.

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As the three men were made to deboard the flight, they flagged that they were being racially targeted. At least one airline representative allegedly said that she did "not disagree".

As the men complained, the pilot announced to the rest of the passengers in the flight that the men were removed as somebody reported a body odour complaint.

“What happened to us was wrong. Imagine a flight attendant ordering every white person off a plane because of a complaint about one white person. That would never happen. But that is what happened to us,” the three men said in a statement,The Guardianreported.

"There is no explanation other than the colour of our skin. American Airlines singled us out for being Black, embarrassed us, and humiliated us. Clearly, this was discrimination," they added.

(With inputs from agencies)