Murray Head / Splash News
Activist Tamika Mallory Removed From Flight Over Seat Dispute
American Airlines is in the headlines again. This time for removing Women’s March Co-Chair Tamika Mallory, who was flying home to NYC from the Revolt Music Conference in Miami to attend a wedding for Rev. Al Sharpton’s daughter. Due to her dispute with the airline, she missed the wedding.
Mallory took to social media to air out her grievances with the airline.
According to Mallory, it all started when she changed her seat at an airport kiosk from a middle seat to an aisle. When she arrived at the gate she was issued a new ticket that returned her to the middle seat. She approached a gate agent to ask why and received a response that she tells NY Daily News was “nasty” and “disrespectful. Things only went further downhill after the pilot, overhearing the discussion, intervened, telling her the gate agent had “nothing to do” with her seat change and saying she was the one who behaved disrespectfully.
“Then he said to me, ‘Can you get on this flight? Are you going to be a problem on this flight?’ I said ‘No, I’m not. Actually, I’m fine. But I will write my complaint down,” Mallory said. “He looked at me and said, ‘You’re going to get yourself a one-way ticket off this plane.’”
Mallory was allowed to board the plane and was seated in her assigned middle seat when an announcement requested she come to the front of the plane.
When she arrived she says the pilot pointed at her and said, “Her, off.”
“I began to express my outrage,” Mallory said. “Then I asked why I was being removed. I asked why was this happening to me. I told him I felt completely disrespected. I began to weep.”
Mallory was not offered any explanation but police arrived and she and her travel companion were forced to leave the plane.
“It definitely was white male aggression. I was singled out, I was disrespected, and he was trying to intimidate me. I was discriminated against,” she said.
Definitely sounds like a terrible experience and we all know how these airine employees like to wield their power. But American has yet to apologize, instead offering this statement:
“Our team does not tolerate discrimination of any kind,” American Airlines spokesman Joshua Freed said. “We take these allegations seriously, and we are in the process of reaching out to our colleagues in Miami, as well as Ms. Mallory, to obtain additional information on what transpired during the boarding process.”
Meanwhile Tamika was hit with a bunch of tweets from people who don’t believe she wasn’t at fault. Peep her tweets below then hit the flip for her livestream.
Comments
Bossip Comment Policy
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.