A doctor claims to have been a victim of racial profiling during a Delta flight

She remembered the 2016 incident involving Tamika Cross, who was prohibited from helping a sick passenger on a Delta Air Lines flight. This has prompted Delta Air Lines to change its policy and health care professionals are no longer expected to be required to submit their credentials before assisting passengers.

& # 39; Is your license? & # 39;

Like Cross, Stanford is black.

"I really wanted to focus on (the passenger) and reduce the time to interact with (the flight attendant)," she said.

Stanford stated that the flight attendant steered to the rear of the aircraft and a few minutes later a second flight attendant appeared and asked to see the license. Stanford said the flight attendant is gone.

Stanford moved the sick passenger into her own seat to offer more space. The flight attendants came back and Stanford said that a flight attendant had asked, "Are you a chief medical officer?

Stanford did not understand.

"Are you really a doctor?" Stanford asked, the flight attendant.

She was still puzzled and said that the other air hostess had asked her: "Is this your license?"

"Why should I take someone's license with me?" Stanford wondered.

Stanford was able to continue helping the passenger for the rest of the flight by talking to her and keeping her calm.

"Dr. Stanford's care of the passenger remained unchanged for the duration of the medical problem, "Delta Air Lines said in a statement.

Delta's answer

Tuesday after the incident, Stanford posted on Twitter: "@ DeltaAirlineUS I am very disappointed that your # Diversity policy has not resulted in any change. As a #blackwoman doctor who showed my #medical license to help a passenger on board a DL5935, your #flighting attendant still did not believe that I was a # physicist. "

Delta Air Lines tweeted in response, "I'm really sorry for your frustration, Dr. Stanford. Please note that Delta does not tolerate discrimination for any reason and we take your comments very seriously. We are looking deeper and will contact you directly. "

Delta Air Lines spokesman Anthony Black said the company had made contact with Stanford. He added that the Delta 5935 flight is operated by the regional airline of Republic Airways, which operates under its "own operating certificate" and is "responsible for their flight crews and" their policies. "

Republic Airways is based in Indianapolis. This is not the first time that the airline ignites for incidents when it operates flights for other carriers: in 2017, Republic made the headlines when Dr. David Dao was trained by an aircraft operated for United for refusing to leave its seat. for crew members.

The Republic generally contracts with airlines on smaller regional routes. Most of his planes hold 76 seats or less.

Stanford thinks it's just an excuse and Delta should not "blame" the blame on the small airline. Stanford is disappointed that Cross, his colleague and friend, "spent so much time with Delta revising these policies, and his work showed no signs of change."

Delta Air Lines published this statement:

"We thank Dr. Stanford for his medical assistance aboard Republic Flight 5935 IND-BOS and we regret any misunderstanding that occurred during his exchange with the flight crew.

In the future, we closely monitor relationships with our carrier partner to ensure that their employees understand and apply the policy consistently. "

A statement by Republic Airways spokesman Jon Austin echoed that of Delta. "We thank Dr. Stanford for his medical assistance on our flight 5935 and we apologize for any misunderstanding that occurred during his exchange with our flight crew," the statement said. work with Delta to ensure that our employees understand and consistently apply all applicable policies. "

Several people reacted angrily to this episode, including other minority-owned health professionals.