A broken in-flight entertainment system onboard a transatlantic Air France flight turned into an even more uncomfortable incident after a passenger was moved to an open middle seat but her new seatmate became upset. Rather than telling him that it was his problem and he did not buy the open middle seat, flight attendants moved the woman to another seat. That passenger, a black woman, is now claiming Air France rewarded racism. I’ve updated this post with Air France’s response.
Air France Removes Black Woman From Seat After Man Complains About Her Presence
The black woman and her friend were flying from Paris (CDG) to Washington Dulles (IAD) on Air France 52, onboard an Airbus A350-900 jet. Although this is a modern jet, the woman’s IFE system was not working. After rebooting it twice to no avail, the woman was offered a move to an open middle seat near her originally assigned seat.
A father was sitting on the aisle and his son was sitting in the window seat. The two probably thought they would enjoy the flight with an open middle seat, but suddenly the woman took the seat between them.
The father began questioning her:
- Why are you here?
- Where is your originally assigned seat?
The woman answered that her seat was broken and she was moved there. The man got up and complained to a flight attendant.
Rather than telling him that unless he paid for it, the open middle seat did not belong to him, a flight attendant approached the black woman, said the man was not happy, and asked her to move to another open seat. Now the black woman was not happy:
“First off, I don’t care if he’s not happy. I was given permission to sit here. I did not ask you to move from your seat. You did not buy this seat. So why are you asking me–a black woman–to get up and move? If he wants to move, he can get up and move. If he doesn’t want to sit next to someone black, that is not my problem.”
The woman and her friend complained to a flight attendant, who said the man simply did not understand why she moved. The flight attendant spoke to the man again and claimed he was still unhappy…
My Take
From what we know thus far, I would draw the following conclusions:
- I’m not prepared to say the man was “racist” or did not want a black woman next to him… perhaps he simply did not want anyone next to him, between him and his son
- Even so, the women were right that unless he paid for that middle seat, he had no claim to it, even if he thought it would remain empty
- While I can understand why the man was angry, the flight attendants should not have given into him: the black woman should have stayed in that seat; if he was repulsed, he could have moved elsewhere
- I also agree with the women that he was not entitled to an explanation as to why the open middle seat was suddenly needed
Based on the video, I think Air France owes these women a sincere apology.
Air France Responds
Air France has defended its action while offering its regret the passenger was hurt:
We regret this situation and would like to reiterate that there was no act or intent of discrimination on the part of our crew.
Air France is deeply committed to the values of respect for all and can only regret that the customer felt hurt by the way this incident was handled.
The crew did everything possible to restart the entertainment service on the customer’s original seat, and when it remained inoperative, offered an alternative seat, and then a second one, so as not to separate a family, seating together since the beginning of the flight.
The family in question was surprised to see a passenger come and sit between them 6 hours into the flight and contacted the crew requesting to continue their journey in the same seating configuration. As other seats were available in the cabin, and since the crew is committed to preserving the comfort and well-being of every passenger on the plane, they offered the customer another seat.
We once again regret the misunderstanding and lack of fluidity in the handling of this situation. Subsequently, the crew offered their assistance and support until the end of the flight. Our customer service department has received the claim filed by the customer, to whom we reiterate our apologies, and has been unsuccessfully trying to reach her since the event.
I appreciate the update…
CONCLUSION
A black woman was moved to an open middle seat on Air France when her IFE system failed. Her seatmate, who thought he would fly across the Atlantic with an open middle seat, protested the move and prevailed: she was re-seated elsewhere.
I’m disappointed in the way the flight attendants handled this: you are not entitled to the open seat next to you on a plane, unless you pay for it, even after the door closes.
This is just plain ineptitude by AF FAs and the male FA could have gone over to resolve it as he told the woman to move there in the first place, but the male FA chooses not to. I understand how these women are feeling but making any issue about racism isn’t the best thing either.
Regarding passenger’s interpersonal difficulties , the unfortunate FAs are between a rock and a hard place . Best for the FA to ask permission from the other people before moving people around .
Ask permission from whom exactly? The people being moved, or those now expected to accommodate a new seatmate without warning?
This situation reflects a clear failure in judgment by the flight attendant, an issue that could have been avoided with firmer leadership. If the parent was so adamant about keeping the middle seat empty, the flight attendant should have offered them the option to pay for the extra seat. Otherwise, the parent should have been told to accept the standard seating arrangement without disruption.
Accommodating one passenger’s personal discomfort at the expense of others, without transparency or consent, is not just poor service, it’s unfair and unprofessional.
Love the lowIQ comments. Did this man pay for the middle seat? Then shut up. Simple.
Another way to resolve it would have been to move the lady to business class from the get-go .
Everyone ought to be open to conversation and learning something new . They could have joked together about the in-flight entertainment , and how dumb it is . I’ve had some of the humourous and informative conversations of my life after joking around with new people . Everyone knows something interesting which I do not know .
Or… And I’m just throwing this out here… If your IFE isn’t working, maybe you could just read a book? Do you have something on your phone or iPad you could read? Even a game to play? Eight hours without staring at mindless drivel on the idiot-box will not kill anyone. Heaven knows, you might even learn something.
This sort of behavior by Air France also happens in the air in more premium cabins based on my experience. In my recent LP flight from CDG-SFO, it was just me and another French lady. The LP FA was clearly showing her more attention at the beginning that she didn’t even greet me or take my PDB and when I called her so I could eat right after we reached cruising altitude, she didn’t seem too happy. So, I spoke to her in French and had to talk a little about myself/what I do (I know it’s very condescending move) but that really changed her attitude and service throughout the rest of the flight and she became very attentive/willing to engage with me. Point is, AF FAs are really a mixed bag in all cabins.
2 of basically the same story in 2 days. These airlines and their FA’s personally, regardless of the reason need to be sued and the customer given a high level of compensation . Yes it costs money to file suit, but until this behavior is punished the airlines will continue it.
Racism or not, you don’t get a seat you didn’t pay for, or get to keep it empty. Sometimes I miss jackasses just getting what they deserve, a good punch in the face.
I’m not necessarily going to blame the FA on this. The man, being upset at what happened, could have very well made the remainder of the women’s flight very unpleasant. Was the man right? No way…however, this is not necessarily of question of him being right or wrong, but more of avoiding further confrontation, either between him and the FA or him and the woman.
Unlike other people, I don’t go right to the FA being on a power trip. In this case, I think the FAs intention may have been good, but the execution was wrong.
I agree with you Evan, but I just cannot praise the FA for rewarding this guy’s griping.
I agree there should be no praise, but I’m not convinced of the racism card either.
FA ought to have rewarded the poor lady by moving Her to business class .
Why does everything have to be about race? I will wage 1 million dollars that the real issue here is a passenger was moved to a middle seat between the father and the son. Any parent would be uncomfortable in that situation.
Which is what I wrote…I think that’s correct.
So why did the FA not tell the father that he could move to the middle seat and the woman to the aisle they never paid for the extra seat,
I think if this was a white women in a broken seat and a black family with a middle seat empty then the outcome would have been very different. The FA would have ordered the black family to move and accommodate the white women. Air France you should do better and get proper bias training.
A similar incident was on Air Canada a few months ago (LHR-YYZ). The row in front of me had an empty middle (I was in the window). The aisle was an Indian older woman and the window was an Arab young man. A white woman an hour into the flight showed up to that row and said to the Indian woman that he was coming to the middle seat because the IFE at his seat was not working. The Indian woman started shouting that he could just not sit there, with the Arab window man asking if she could go ‘somewhere else in the plane’. The plane was very full with only perhaps 2-3 middles left.
The AC FA then somewhat handled it well by repeatedly asking both passengers to free up the seat of their stuff as well as the leg room (both passengers stashed their bags under the middle). The Arab guy started mumbling racist stuff in Arabic according to my seatmate. The Indian woman started a monologue on how AC is such a shit airline.
The white woman who took the middle seat was rather big, so yes from a comfort angle, this would have inconvenienced the seatmates for sure.
So it was the woman who decided it was all about race, and was determined that it would indeed remain all about her race?
Chip, meet shoulder.
If the Father was so concerned about having another Adult sitting between him and his Son, perhaps the correct action should have been to move next to his Son instead of crying to the FA. Grow up. And yes, I think, based on the story outlined, the Father was uncomfortable having a Woman of Color sitting between them. 🙁 Of course, in a gesture of good Customer Service, if a Business Class seat were available, the FA could have spoken to the Purser to clear the move to J. Now all that has happened is TWO AF Customers have a foul taste in their mouths towards AF. :/
Maybe the father should have purchased the middle seat if having it open was so precious to him. I’m tired of families ruining other people’s flints.
Flying Blue Platinum includes the ability to book an empty seat next to you for free. Others can pay for it. Who’s to say he didn’t book the empty middle seat and that was the basis of his complaint?
What is the fine print, though? I’d imagine it is a seat block, not a gurantee it will stay open…
If that was the case then Air France would have used that “excuse”.
The only thing more tedious than someone alleging racial discrimination is someone claiming antisemitism.
Does man find attractive these artificial claws many woman wear?
Robb, when you said “I think, based on the story outlined, the Father was uncomfortable having a Woman of Color sitting between them.” What exactly in the story leads you to believe it had anything to do with her race? Obviously the man bought and aisle and window hoping to have the middle seat empty and when his plan didn’t work out, he got pissy about it. I believe he would have been a jerk regardless of who sat there. It was about him not getting his way, not who the person was that foiled his plan. Bad things happen to everyone and not every bad thing that happens to a black person has to do with their race.
It may or may not be racism but whatever the trigger for the man it’s inappropriate, the woman didn’t “poach” the seat. That said, AF does have a reputation for treating what’s euphemistically called “ethnic” passengers differently from “French” (AKA white) passengers. It was so blatant a few years ago that flights to Africa and the French Caribbean all left from Orly airport, not CDG. When AF was called out on that, some changes were made to the schedules. As a rule, AF FAs are pleasant enough but if you are white, male and, based on your grammar and diction connoting a higher social class, one is treated well, while lesser mortals are treated in a perfunctory manner.
Probably not race just space. If she had stayed in the middle seat he would have not been been happy –it would be unpleasant for her so the move again was better for her…
So glad I came across this story. 3 New York City friends are planning a trip to Paris in October. It’s their first time going to Europe. They are looking at flying JetBlue or Air France. I’m gonna tell them to scratch Air France off the list.
This is NOT acceptable. They should have moved that man to another seat.
That flight attendant clearly took his side—shameful! She should be fired.