Dr. Tisha Rowe was prevented from boarding an American Airlines flight unless she was "masked"

A Houston woman and her 8-year-old son are not allowed to board an American Airlines plane on June 30, unless they are. " covered "with a blanket.

American Airlines spokeswoman Shannon Gilson said the company had fully reimbursed the pbadenger for the flight, but Tisha Rowe, a family doctor who was traveling from Jamaica to Miami, said Tuesday that She had not received any refund notification or money. sent to his account.

Rowe and his son were returning to the United States after spending a week in Jamaica, their family of origin. When she arrived at the Kingston airport, she recalls, she was sweating and went into a bathroom to cool off before boarding.

"I looked at myself," she says. "I knew what I looked like, in front and on the back." She was wearing a romper with a tropical print.

Rowe then flew with his son, but an air hostess asked him to go out to talk.

"Do you have a jacket?" Rowe recalled the flight attendant asking, to which she replied no. "You can not get on the plane dressed like that."

Rowe said that she had finally given in because she did not want to risk her flight and had asked for a cover at the switchboard. She said that the attendant kept repeating that she could not get on the plane without covering herself.

She and her son finally returned to their seats. His son then covered his face with the blanket. When Rowe peeked underneath, she saw that he was crying.

"Mom, follow the rules," he told him, according to Rowe's account. "I'm trying to explain to an 8 year old girl – Mom did not break the rules."

Rowe spent the rest of the nauseating flight. When the flight landed, she said, she met another pbadenger who was wearing shorts shorter than hers but apparently had no problem boarding the plane. Rowe told him what had happened and this woman gave him her name and telephone number, agreeing to support her in a formal complaint.

"The difference between this woman and me is that she was about size 2, thin," Rowe said. "It's hard to understand if you're not a double minority, a woman and a black, how you do not shoot a card."

Gilson said the airline had contacted Rowe after hearing about his experience.

"We apologize to Dr. Rowe and her son for their experience," she said. "We are proud to serve customers from all walks of life and we are committed to providing a positive and safe travel experience for anyone flying with us."

Rowe said the airline had called her several times, but that she had made it clear that she only wanted to talk about the incident in writing, by email. She said that she did not want to relive the company's experience over the phone.

Rowe's attorney, Geoffrey Berg of Houston-based law firm Berg Plummer Johnson & Raval, said a representative of American Airlines had told him that the carrier did not want to be described "in this way".

"Faced with a badist and racist attack against one of their pbadengers, it's the corporate version of thoughts and prayers," Berg said. "The best way not to be described this way is not to behave this way."

American Airlines refers to a dress code for customers in their conditions of carriage: "Dress appropriately, barefoot or offensive clothing is not allowed."

"If they expect pbadengers to fly around the Caribbean in snow suit in June, they should probably mention it in the transport contract," Berg said.

In October 2017, the NAACP issued a travel advisory warning black pbadengers to avoid American Airlines flights, saying that they could be subject to "disrespectful, discriminatory or dangerous conditions". The warning was lifted about a year later, when the NAACP said in a press release that it had worked with the airline to implement implicit bias training and a new complaint resolution process. discrimination.

But Rowe said that American Airlines did not inform her of the procedure for filing a complaint, although she asked that any information or correspondence be written. She added that an appropriate response from the airline would be to recognize the negative effect of the dress code on pbadengers and make changes to it. And, she added, a refund is not enough to erase the memory of this incident for her young son.

"If you really want to rectify things, you have to realize that this has been traumatic for both of us," said Rowe.

This is not the first such incident involving American Airlines. In April 2018, a woman named Amber Phillips was confronted by a pbadenger during an American Airlines flight between Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, and traveling to Washington. A flight attendant asked him to get off the shuttle and then called the police.

"Companies like American Airlines are clearly motivated by their avidity to place pbadengers in planes," Phillips said at the time.

"Mixed with the climate that prevails in our country, with the prejudices that people have around blacks, big blacks, big in general, they are allowed to use this bias and then do it seem to have the right to space ".

The Washington Post

See also: The 16 rules of air transport that every pbadenger should know in 2019

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