NAACP's national travel advisory warns black passengers about flying on American Airlines
A week after a black activist was removed from an American Airlines flight following a dispute with a gate agent, the NAACP issued a travel advisory Tuesday warning passengers about their “safety and well-being” when flying with the Fort Worth-based carrier.
The group that describes itself as "the nation's oldest and largest nonpartisan civil rights organization" cited at least four recent incidents from different parts of the country that involved alleged discrimination.
“The NAACP for several months now has been monitoring a pattern of disturbing incidents reported by African-American passengers, specific to American Airlines,” the advisory said. “We have today taken the action of issuing national advisory alerting travelers -- especially African-Americans -- to exercise caution, in that booking and boarding flights on American Airlines could subject them [to] disrespectful, discriminatory or unsafe conditions.”
The group’s newly elected president and CEO, Derrick Johnson, went on to call for American Airlines leaders to meet with the NAACP to discuss its grievances.
“Until these and other concerns are addressed, this national travel advisory will stand,” Johnson said in a statement.
American Airlines said it was disappointed to hear about the travel advisory, and pledged that its officials would meet with NAACP representatives at the carrier’s Fort Worth headquarters.
“We are disappointed to hear about this travel advisory as our team members -- a diverse community of gate agents, pilots, and flight attendants -- are proud to serve customers of all backgrounds,” spokeswoman Shannon Gilson said in a statement. “With that said, we understand there is more to do. ... We are committed to having a meaningful dialogue about our airline and are ready to both listen and engage.”
The NAACP said it historically has issued travel advisories "when conditions on the ground pose a substantial risk of harm to black Americans." Over the summer, the group issued an advisory for the entire state of Missouri after a bill was passed there affecting employee protections against workplace discrimination.The airline warning came just over a week after Tamika Mallory, who co-chaired the Women’s March on Washington earlier this year, was removed from an American Airlines flight from Miami to New York.
“It definitely was white male aggression. I was singled out, I was disrespected, and he was trying to intimidate me. I was discriminated against,” Mallory told the New York Daily News.
The pilot ordered her off the plane after she took her seat following a dispute with a gate agent over a changed seat assignment.
The NAACP listed three other incidents from the past year that the group said “suggest a corporate culture of racial insensitivity and possible racial bias on the part of American Airlines.”
One involved the Rev. William Barber, former president of the North Carolina NAACP. Barber complained to a flight attendant about harassment by two white passengers sitting behind him, but he was later removed from the flight, according to a federal lawsuit he filed in December. The suit was later dismissed.
Another incident took place in May, when a black woman, Rane Baldwin, was moved to coach seating despite having booked a first-class seat, apparently because a change in aircraft reduced the number of first-class seats that were available. However, her traveling companion, who is white, was allowed to remain in first class.
“As she asked questions, she was ignored. However, whenever I asked the same questions, I received thorough answers,” Janet Novack, the white companion, wrote on Twitter.
The last example, first reported last week, took place on an August flight from Atlanta to New York. The flight was delayed several hours, leading the airline to deboard passengers, according to the New York Daily News.
Briana Williams, who was traveling with her infant daughter, told the Daily News she asked for the plane's staff to return the stroller that had been checked when she boarded. When staff did not retrieve the stroller, Williams refused to leave the plane, prompting police to be called and Williams to be prevented from departing on that flight.
Johnson, the NAACP president, said the frequency of incidents “cannot be dismissed as normal or random.”
“All travelers must be guaranteed the right to travel without fear of threat, violence or harm,” he said.
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