TERESA HUDSON JORDAN: The frequent Delta and first-class passenger is the latest such passenger who sued and the fourth reportedly removed from a flight since 2024. In March 2024 three Black men sued American Airlines alleging racial discrimination. STOCK PHOTO

By David L. Snelling

Miami – Several African American travelers have complained that they were the target of discrimination on airplanes by white flight attendants who displayed a hostile demeanor toward them because of their race.

Since 2024, four Blacks have filed federal discrimination lawsuits against Delta Air Lines and American Airlines after they were kicked off their flights despite not causing any disturbances.

Teresa Hudson Jordan is the latest such passenger who filed a lawsuit on March 29 against Delta Air Lines after she and her daughter were removed from a flight from Kentucky to New York.

Jordan filed her lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York, claiming they were kicked off the flight after she stared at one of the flight attendants.

The lawsuit says the incident occurred on March 27 as the frequent Delta and first-class passenger was talking with her daughter when the flight attendant passed by looking at them.

Jordan said she made eye contact with her but didn’t utter a word.

The flight attendant became angry and began screaming at Jordan, the lawsuit says.

Jordan claimed that she never once raised her voice at the flight attendant during the exchange.

According to the complaint, the flight attendant went to the cockpit and lied to the crew about the incident, alleging that Jordan was disruptive and noncompliant.

The pilot then moved to turn the plane around and law enforcement escorted Jordan and her daughter off the flight.

“This case epitomizes the revolting reality that, even in the year 2025, Black Americans continue to endure the indignity of ‘Flying While Black,’ an experience steeped in humiliation and echoing the dehumanizing degradations of the Jim Crow South,” Jordan’s complaint states.

Delta Air Lines released a statement, saying it doesn’t comment on pending litigation and the airliner doesn’t discriminate against any passengers.

Jordan is the fourth Black passenger on board an airliner who was reportedly removed from a flight since 2024.

According to the Associated Press, in March 2024, three Black men filed a federal lawsuit in New York against American Airlines, alleging that they were victims of racial discrimination.

The men, who apparently didn’t know each other, and were sitting in different aisles of the plane, claimed they were removed after a white flight attendant complained about a passenger’s body odor.

The men claimed they were being targeted because they are Black.

American offered to rebook them, but when it became clear after about an hour that there were no other available flights to New York that evening, they were allowed to reboard the plane.

“If American Airlines received a complaint about a Black male passenger with offensive body odor but could not verify the complaint, the solution should not have been to eject eight separate Black men from the plane,” Susan Huhta, an employment law attorney in Washington, D.C., who represented the three men, said. American said it was looking into the claims.”

American Airlines later released a statement to the Associated Press about the incident.

“We take all claims of discrimination very seriously and want our customers to have a positive experience when they choose to fly with us,” the airline said.

“Our teams are currently investigating the matter, as the claims do not reflect our core values or our purpose of caring for people.”

The three Black men and American Airlines settled the lawsuit but the financial terms were not disclosed.

The NAACP issued a Black traveling advisory regarding American Airlines in 2017, claiming several African American passengers had experienced discrimination.

The largest civil-rights organization has since rescinded the advisory.