Black woman accuses American Airlines of racism after she was downgraded from First Class and her white friend wasn’t
Rane Baldwin bought the two First Class tickets but was relocated the to back of Economy on arrival at the airport
A BLACK woman has filed an official complaint against American Airlines, claiming that they downgraded her on a flight while her white friend stayed in First Class.
Rane Baldwin had booked two tickets from Kentucky to Charlotte on May 2 with her pal Janet Baldwin and then upgraded them before the flight.
But the women say that when they arrived at the airport and got their tickets scanned, Rane’s ticket was downgraded.
Rane told the website that the agent didn’t mention the downgrade, so she didn’t notice until she saw that her seat number had changed to a row in the back of the plane.
When she questioned the employee, she was informed that she had been reassigned because the plane had fewer First Class seats than originally thought.
She continued: “As [Rane] asked questions, she was ignored. However, whenever I asked the same questions, I received thorough answers.
“The whole reason that I was flying first class was because I was associated with her and her reservation. They were ignoring the card holder.”
When the pair boarded the plane, Rane claimed that she tried to complain to a flight attendant about her seat but was completely ignored and told to stand at the back of the aircraft until it became clear if there was another Economy seat available nearer the front.
Janet said: “Rane is denied approval to wait towards the front of the plane.
“They literally made her wait at the back of the plane and refused to make eye contact with her or speak with her.
“After I asked why she was sent to the back when they knew that the plane wasn't full, they "let" her move to the front of the main cabin.”
As there were plenty of spare seats at the front of the Economy cabin, Rane then took a space in an empty row instead of her assigned seat at the back, and Janet went to join her.