The NAACP has issued a travel advisory to all African-Americans traveling on American Airlines.
On Tuesday, October 24, 2017, the organization released a statement explaining a pattern they’ve noticed in various incidents reported on the airline among African-American passengers.
The incidents surrounding this advisory has caused the organization to believe that there is a “corporate culture of racial insensitivity and possible racial bias.”
A spokeswoman for American Airlines, Shannon Gilson, expressed disappoint on the companies behalf in hearing the advisory and is “committed to providing a positive, safe travel experience for everyone” who flies with them.
In their statement, the NAACP outlined four instances where African-Americans were victims of mistreatment.
This includes an African-American male that was forced to give his purchased seat up because he responded to “disrespectful and discriminatory comments directed” at him from two white passengers.
Another incident involves an African-American woman and her baby being removed from a flight from Atlanta to New York after asking for her stroller to push her child in.
The NAACP president Derrick Johnson says, “growing lists of incidents…involves behavior that cannot be dismissed as normal or random.”
American Airlines Chairman and CEO Doug Parker shared the following letter with the airline’s 120,000 employees this morning, Oct. 25, 2017.
Dear Fellow Team Members,
Of all the really important things our team members do – and that list is long – bringing people together is at the top. We fly over borders, walls and stereotypes to connect people from different races, religions, nationalities, economic backgrounds and sexual orientations. We make the world a smaller, more inclusive place. And we do it professionally and safely every day for more than 500,000 customers across five continents.
So, we were disappointed to learn of a travel advisory issued by the NAACP regarding American Airlines. The mission statement of the NAACP states that it “seeks to remove all barriers of racial discrimination.” That’s a mission that the people of American Airlines endorse and facilitate every day – we do not and will not tolerate discrimination of any kind. We have reached out to the NAACP and are eager to meet with them to listen to their issues and concerns.
As we work through this in concert with the NAACP, please keep doing the great and noble work you always do: treat our customers and each other with respect; connect diverse groups of people with each other and allow them to see the world; make the world a smaller and more open place; and do it professionally and safely.
