American Airlines has revised its policy regarding booting passengers from planes, potentially making flyers harder to “bounce.”
“We strive to cultivate a sense of community and provide a travel experience where everyone feels welcomed,” the airline wrote in the revision to their inflight manual, A View From The Wing reported.
The rule changes were prompted by an incident over the summer, in which AA was sued after eight African-American passengers were kicked off a flight from Phoenix to New York over a body odor complaint.
According to the new policy, flight attendants are only allowed to remove passengers if there is a “risk to safety and security.”
In addition, any issues need to be broached by passengers first and not crewmembers.
Meanwhile, the issue needs to be addressed by two flight attendants and they should attempt to resolve the issue sans resorting to removing the alleged problem flyer.
The carrier writes that in the “rare event” that resolution to a “non-safety or non-security concern” isn’t likely, the captain should contact the Complaint Resolution Official (CRO).
If those weren’t enough hurdles, all flight attendants must submit a Customer Event non-safety/non-security (CERS) form within 24 hours of the incident.
“Our charge for every team member — no matter the circumstance — is to lead with respect, discretion, care and empathy,” American Airlines wrote. “Discrimination based on race, gender, color, sexual orientation or national origin against any customer or team member is unacceptable and will not be tolerated at American Airlines.”
The rules also state that the captain has the final word on whether a passenger should be removed over security concerns, and only after a “thorough assessment” of the issue.
Under AA’s current contract of carriage, however, air passengers can still be jettisoned from the airplane over offensive body odor, this revision just makes it harder to do.
According to A View From The Wing, this change will also mean that removal over “inappropriate” attire will also not be up to the discretion of a single flight attendant as it was in the past.
In the past, the carrier has come under fire from passengers who were outraged over being ejected for being scantily-clad.