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African-American First-Class Passenger Claims Airline Sent Her to Back of Plane

© AP Photo / Scott Mayerowitz, FileIn this Friday, June 10, 2016, file photo, American Airlines and JetBlue Airways charter flights wait to depart from Havana's Jose Marti International Airport
In this Friday, June 10, 2016, file photo, American Airlines and JetBlue Airways charter flights wait to depart from Havana's Jose Marti International Airport - Sputnik International
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Two passengers have accused American Airlines of racism after flight officials moved a black woman to the back of the plane, even though she had a first-class ticket. Her traveling companion, a white woman, was allowed to remain in first class.

On May 2, Rane Baldwin, who is African-American, and her friend Janet Novack, who is white, were to fly first-class from Louisville, Ky., to Charlotte, N.C. At the terminal, however, Baldwin was handed a ticket that put her in a seat in the back of the plane.

​According to Baldwin, she asked the reason for the switch and was told that the first-class section was smaller than anticipated and there wasn't any room for her.

​"As [Baldwin] asked questions, she was ignored," Novack tweeted. "However, whenever I asked the same questions, I received thorough answers."

​"They literally made [Baldwin] wait at the back of the plane and refused to make eye contact with her or speak with her," said Novack. Eventually, the two women sat in a row of empty seats near the front of the plane, although not in first class. At this point, according to Baldwin and Novack, a flight attendant told Novack she could "spread out" if she wanted more space since they were sitting in a mostly-empty section.

"He did not say this to anyone else," Baldwin said in an interview with The Root.  "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."

"The microaggressions that [American Airlines] workers projected are prejudiced, ignorant. They literally didn't believe I was flying with a black woman," added Novack.

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American Airlines issued an apology for the incident, but denied discrimination as a factor. Instead, they chalked it up to "agent error." Baldwin and Novack had not purchased first-class tickets, they explained, and had instead been upgraded as compensation after their initial flight had been canceled. Novack's upgrade was processed into the system first, according to the airline — had Baldwin been processed first, it would have been the other way around.

"We have apologized to both passengers for the confusion, and explained how the issue occurred – which was an error on our part," a representative from the airline told The Independent. They claimed to have conducted an internal investigation that found no evidence of racism or discrimination.

This is the second allegation of racism levied against the world's largest airline in as many months. In April, Korean pastor Benny Shin claimed to have been prevented from boarding the plane while several white passengers in line behind him were permitted to embark.

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