A woman named Rane Baldwin is claiming that she experienced discrimination during an American Airlines flight that took place one week ago when she flew from Kentucky to Charlotte, North Carolina. Baldwin, who is black, made the trip along with a white friend, Janet Novack, and the pair both had first-class tickets.
However, as Baldwin told The Root, the ticket agent scanning her boarding pass gave her a ticket that seated her at the back of the plane. She further says there was no explanation until she questioned him. The ticket agent responded by telling her that a last-second plane change left their new ride with less seats, though Novack's seat was reportedly unchanged.
Baldwin says she took her complaint to the flight attendant but was ignored. She says when Novack came to join her in the back of the plane, she was offered a seat up front.
Baldwin gave her side of what happened before take-off:
"When I went back to the front to ask what was happening, she said that the first-class cabin was full and that there was nothing she could do. At this point, the plane was fully boarded, but there were multiple empty rows at the front of the main cabin. I ignored my seat assignment, sat at the front, and my friend left first class and came back to join me.
After their flight touched down, Novack did what many unhappy consumers do these days, and hopped onto Twitter:
Though it was four in the morning (or perhaps because it was four in the morning) American Airlines did quickly respond:
That led to a 17-tweet long explanation that you can read in full here.
Furthermore, Baldwin said she wrote a letter of complaint that she is yet to receive a response for.
"I’ve never felt so unimportant my entire life. This flight was the most blatantly racist thing that’s ever happened to me. It was baffling and hurtful that the crew seemed completely aware of what they were doing and just didn’t care. People didn’t seem to trust me and made giant, incorrect assumptions about the relationship between my friend and I," she said.
Novack issued similar sentiments about the alleged treatment. "There’s absolutely no reason why Rane, an AAdvantage Platinum Select/World Elite cardholder, should have been treated as she was. There is absolutely no excuse for the fact that even after I pointed out the discrimination, all of my questions and concerns have been answered as Rane’s haven’t," she said. "I’m absolutely disappointed and angered at their lack of response, despite sending Rane over to a ‘specialty team.’ I think that my silence was both a terrible reaction as a friend and a testament to how far I have to go as an ally. It’s time that we challenge ourselves to do better."
Could this have just been a bad ticket agent, or a misunderstanding of how airline policies work? Given the circumstances, we'll have to wait and see. Social media is really sticking it to airlines at the moment, so this seems like something American Airlines should get out in front of.
