After a flight attendant reportedly requested her to relocate to the back of the plane to make place for two white women, a black lady has accused Delta Airlines of discrimination.
During a trip from Atlanta to San Francisco on Feb. 3, Camille Henderson said she was near row 15 window when the women in the aisle and middle seats in the row next to her indicated they had first-class tickets, according to ABC 7.
“They felt that they were booked first-class seats, but they couldn’t present the tickets,” Henderson said, adding that the women complained for more than an hour.
Part of the conversation between the women and a flight attendant was recorded by Henderson.
According to a tape acquired by ABC 7, one woman is heard stating, “Unfortunately, my first class seats are filled.”
Another individual may be heard asking, “What are they?”
The lady said, “They’re occupied.”
Flight attendants came up with a plan to offer the women more room at her expense, Henderson told the station.
“Are you flying by yourself?” someone asks Henderson, to which she responds that she is.
“There’s a seat on aisle 34 back there.” “It’s an aisle seat,” the ostensible attendant explains.
According to the publication, Henderson, who claimed that the crew did not ask the women to relocate, grudgingly decided to walk to the back row.
“I don’t want to make it a racial issue, but instead of asking the two white women sat next to me to move (to accommodate them), they practically forced me to move,” she told ABC 7.
“I just don’t understand why I had to move,” she said, “since that was the seat that I paid for and that was my allocated seat.” “It’s humiliating to be walking back there.” It’s as though the entire aeroplane is staring at you, wondering what’s wrong.”
Henderson claimed she was dissatisfied with the information she received from a Delta customer support representative she eventually contacted on the phone.
“How did they embarrass you by asking you to change seats?” In a tape she shared with the publication, the individual can be heard asking, implying that she was not inconvenienced by being relocated to another economy seat.
“Are you basically saying there’s nothing you can do?” she asked the representative.
“No, ma’am, not under these conditions,” the individual was overheard answering.
“We are investigating into this matter to better understand what transpired,” an airline spokeswoman told ABC7 in a statement.
“Delta has zero-tolerance for any type of discrimination, and these claims go against to our deeply-held beliefs of respecting and appreciating our customers’ diversity,” the official continued.
Henderson promised himself that he would never fly Delta again.
“I was displaced as a Black woman to make two white women comfortable.” “That makes no sense to me,” she told the publication.