Three Black men are suing American Airlines after being removed from a flight due to complaints about body odour. According to the lawsuit filed on Wednesday, the men, who did not know each other and were seated in different parts of the plane, were ordered off the flight in January.

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The lawsuit claims that a flight attendant had complained about a passenger's body odour, leading to the removal of eight Black men in total. The airline offered to book them on a different flight, but when no other flights to New York were available that evening, they were allowed to reboard the original plane after about an hour.

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The claimants allege they were targeted solely because of their race. "If American Airlines received a complaint about a Black male passenger with offensive body odour but could not verify the complaint, the solution should not have been to eject eight separate Black men from the plane," said Susan Huhta, who is representing the three men.

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American Airlines stated that it is looking into the claims. "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 in a statement. "Our teams are currently investigating the matter, as the claims do not reflect our core values or our purpose of caring for people."

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In 2017, the NAACP warned Black travelers about flying with American Airlines, citing incidents of discrimination. The airline promised changes, and the civil rights group later lifted the advisory.

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