AA lose $400k in racial profiling case

[preiffer]

Airline Passenger Awarded $400,000 In Racial Profiling Case

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A jury in Massachusetts ruled on Friday that American Airlines should pay a South Florida man $400,000 in a
discrimination case.

...

In his suit against the airline, Cerqueira, who is an American citizen of Portuguese descent, claimed he was denied service because the airline mistakenly believed he was of Arab, Middle Eastern or South Asian decent.

Full story.

Dispicable[:0]

How many people live in the US? 250 million or so - has AA not realised that quite a few are not going to be of "American" descent (whatever that is)?

VS.

[Scrooge]

While I agree that AA is way out of line please remember that it all starts with one or two staff members, by the time corporate get involved the lawyers are already suing for $100,000,000 dollars.

I would of thought it would of been cheaper for AA to settle this as quietly as possible, but then again they probably have an army of in house ambulance chasers.

True scrooge, but the counter arguement is that when a corporation employees people it becomes responsible for setting up management systems, policies and controls to ensure that those employees act legally. On the face of it (and I am sure the real story is somewhat more complex than reported) it seems that employees of AA have been able to remove a pax on arguably weak grounds, and have then compounded the issue by continuing to deny boarding even after the individual was questioned and released to go freely. I think it is pretty reasonable to see that as a break down in management control, and that is very much an AA issue.

[Scrooge]

Originally posted by sailor99
True scrooge, but the counter arguement is that when a corporation employees people it becomes responsible for setting up management systems, policies and controls to ensure that those employees act legally. On the face of it (and I am sure the real story is somewhat more complex than reported) it seems that employees of AA have been able to remove a pax on arguably weak grounds, and have then compounded the issue by continuing to deny boarding even after the individual was questioned and released to go freely. I think it is pretty reasonable to see that as a break down in management control, and that is very much an AA issue.

For sure, I was talking case specific, I have no idea what AA's internal policy is, though I will say I have never witnessed a problem on any of their flights.

[mcmbenjamin]

Originally posted by VS045
Dispicable[:0]

How many people live in the US? 250 million or so - has AA not realised that quite a few are not going to be of "American" descent (whatever that is)?

VS.

300 Mil plus. Now how many legally?