A Jewish family is suing American Airlines for $75,000, alleging discrimination and defamation after being removed from a flight to Detroit last year for what American called “extremely offensive body odor”.
Yehuda and Jennie Adler were traveling with their 18-month-year-old daughter from Miami to Detroit in January 2019. Just minutes after boarding, a gate agent approached them and advised them they would need to deplane. The Adlers say the agent mentioned it was an “emergency” but did not explain onboard. With eight children at home in Michigan, the Adlers feared the worst and wasted no time in stepping off the aircraft.
Once they were off the aircraft, the agent explained why they were removed: captain’s orders. Several passengers as well as flight crew members allegedly complained to him about an “extremely offensive body odor” emanating from one or all fo the Adler family members.
The Adlers claimed they had just bathed that morning and began approaching people in the boarding area, asking if they could detect a foul body odor.
The Jewish part of the story is relevant, according to the plaintiffs, because their lawsuit claims the gate agent made disparaging remarks, stating that Orthodox Jews only bathe once per week. Also, the Adlers say what fueled their removal was after the flight crew saw their religious headgear and became upset when they asked for free headphones.
American Disputes Passenger Account
American Airlines is denying any wrongdoing, publicly disputing the Adler’s characterization of what happened:
“The Adler family was asked to deplane after multiple passengers and our crew members complained about Mr Adler’s body odour. The decision was made out of concern for the comfort of our other passengers.
“None of the decisions made by our team in handling this sensitive situation were based on the Adler’s religion
American Airlines also added that it provided a hotel room and meal vouchers and re-booked the Adlers for the following day.
Furthermore, other passengers have backed up American Airlines. One spoke on the record with the Washington Post. Another tweeted this:
OMG – we were in this flight! The family sat right behind us. The body odor was awful! Saw that they deplaned, but wasn’t sure what happened until I read this.
— Barbara C Yavorcik (@BYavorcik) January 25, 2019
CONCLUSION
This lawsuit may in fact be headed to court, so a jury can sort out what really happened. I tend to think there was an odor – why else would they be removed? Would American Airlines really remove someone for asking for free headphones?
But I also suspect that the gate agent did make totally innaproptie and unfounded remarks about their faith practices. But at this point I am just speculating. This is another interesting case that I will be watching closely. However it turns out, it is an important reminder never to make assumptions about people and how harsh words only inflame situations.
Last flight I took on delta to DFW, the entire aircraft smells like dead fish. God knows what they carried before our segment.
I’m Jewish and take zero offense. People who smell disgusting should be removed. That’s gross. I’m sure no one kicked them off for being Jewish and no airline has an intention of causing social media stir for nothing.
So if the “Jewish” part of the story is irrelevant as you say then why did you use it in your lead in? To get attention no doubt. I am Jewish and take offense at the way you grab attention by using Jewish, now if this couple smelled that bad then ok the Captain has a right to take action, but you know in all the years of flying there have been many “foul” smelling passengers but never have I said that so in so smells.
It’s directly relevant for exactly the reason I explained above. The Adlers are saying this is not about smell, but prejudice. That makes “Jewish” a central part of the story, right?
There have also been scores of Jewish passengers on the airplane that didn’t get kicked off. Why? Riddle me that.
They must have smelled really bad. Crew has plenty to do during boarding so they won’t throw off people randomly. One wonders why they don’t keep themselves a bit cleaner.
How could the gate agent know they’re Jewish? He looks like a geek and she has a bit of hippie about her. Nothing shouts: JEWISH.. Maybe it’s marijuana residual smell combined with BO. Kick ‘em off….
They said they were wearing religious head coverings (mitpachat + yarmulke)
The Alders claim they did not have body odor. Independently a passenger corroborated AA and said they in fact did. Therefore I can assume the Alders’ are not being honest. But you take the Alders’ word and assume that the unnamed gate agent “did make totally innaproptie and unfounded remarks about their faith practices”. Based on what exactly? You even state in your conclusion “never to make assumptions about people” and then you did just that. That assumption is then the justification for including “Jewish family” in the title.
I guess I think a reasonable person would not have pursued a lawsuit unless they were truly insulted. If someone made a grossly general statement about my faith, I’d also take offense. Just like I don’t think it is reasonable AA would have thrown them off unless they did indeed stink, and then go on the record and defend their conduct.
Why are you assuming people are always reasonable? Perhaps in an entire airplane there are at least some unreasonable people. Are criminals reasonable people? 20 million people were unreasonable enough to commit a felony and that was back in 2010.
What kind of reasonable person would think it was “reasonable” to have bad BO and get in an airtight tube with 200 other people.
I wonder if they could have showered and flown on a later flight? Or seated at the back surrounded by non revs and anyone with anemia or whatever you call a person that has reduced smelling ability.
I have encountered Jews, French, Haitians, and many others with bad hygiene. When I pay for a seat I don’t want some gross mentally challenged individual sitting around me. I also don’t want their dog, horse or other pet either. American Airlines spends millions forcing employees to constantly take “Woke” and anti bias training. Miami is the most diverse city on the planet and if some stinky jew was pulled off then he should have been. As far as legal action, good luck. American has a 500 member full time legal staff and they never settle. These jews are just looking at turning a quick dime playing the victim. If you read the terms of the contract when you agree to purchase a ticket, airlines have a right to refuse service. They are not government and can set standards and policy. I feel sorry for the gate agents that have to deal with individuals like this every day. You could not pay me enough to do their thankless job. Especially working for a #9 looser company like AA. So all you unwashed, stay off public transportation. Take a bath! Duh!!
what bothers me is the use of “jewish” to draw attention to your post. It’s sad we live in a world where we have to “identify” a person rather than the event which you in point did. Your usage only validates that. Remember the old experiment in school where the teacher whispers a sentence in a student’s ear then it’s passed from student to student with the last one repeating out loud to the class what was whispered to him? Wonder how yours would play out?
You know the problem with the world is that it’s divided by religious identities. It should be divided how orthodox you are.
All the conservative, orthodox members of all religions should be forced to live in some states and the rest of the states is for progressive liberals. In the conservative states we should provide them with lots of guns and hate literature. They will either learn to live together or kill each other. A great solution either way as far as i am concerned.
A very good experiment. All the progressive liberals should be in one place. Oakland, CA, Bronx, NY are all 95% Democrat. Unfortunately, it doesn’t serve the narrative because those place have high crime rates.
It’s inaccurate to say that conservatives are hateful and liberals are not. Some liberals are very vindictive and hateful while some conservatives are very caring. Also vice versa.
No, crime is related to one’s moral character. A person with high ethics is not going to murder people because he/she has lots of guns. On the other hand, a person with low ethics will not think twice to kill someone.
Yes. You are right. Ok fine we should have another enclave for the ultra liberals. The ones that feel guilty about everything and cause crime to get out of hand.
We need the middle to be is a separate enclave. Equal opportunity for all, laws that are obeyed, equal application of law. Ideally a racially balanced society. And hopefully intermingled with lot of interracial marriages. And religion practiced inside their homes in privacy. All external visible signs of religion should be removed. No proselytizing. No prayers to god.
Oakland and the Bronx have lower crime rates than Little Rock, Rockford, Ill and Indianapolis. Nobody’s calling those hellholes Democratic. What all 5 cities have is higher poverty rates and low educational attainment.
Matthew says above:
> I guess I think a reasonable person would not have pursued a lawsuit unless they were truly insulted
Seriously?
Welcome to America…
And then there’s this: three women were not allowed to fly in business class because their waists exceeded the 56″ seatbelt limit on Thai Airway’s new Dreamliner; two of them were returning to NZ after weight loss surgery.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12303332
But this was a safety issue with the airbags installed in the seatbelt. Not a fat shaming issue. Read the article!
American dealt with them admirably, what with the hotel and meal vouchers. Sometimes, folks can be immune to their own odors (such as Asians, in my global experience), but I think that American made the right call for the comfort of all the other passengers.
That is racist. If you are white, just eat some curry and see if you smell. You won’t detect it but everyone else will.
Isn’t Matthew a lawyer?
It would be really interesting if someone had Pacer and got the complaint online. I think there is a page charge BUT at the end of a quarter if one has less than $10 in billed charges, those charges are waived.
The case for American Airlines
1. The plaintiff is in Michigan but filed in federal court in Texas. That could mean travel costs for the plaintiff.
2. There is Instagram corroboration of bad odor
3. The plaintiff might not have gotten the identities of people they asked if there was body odor.
4. American Airlines has lots of legal resources
5. American Airlines is being sued for $75,000, not six figures or millions
6. The magnitude of damages allegedly sustained by the Plaintiffs is low
7. The Plaintiffs may have a difficult time rebutting American Airlines’ explanation.
The case for the Plaintiff
1. American Airlines may want to settle to get the story out of the news, even if the Plaintiffs fabricated the story and they did have body odor.
2. The Plaintiff may have low legal costs, particularly if they represent themselves (pro se)
If you watch the video, which the couple recorded, you are not left with much sympathy for them.
So, AA put them in a hotel to go another night without bathing, and had them fly the next day?
Just shower, wear clean clothes, use deodorant and if you can, a bit of perfume.
And if your feet stink, please don’t remove your shoes.
That’s all. End of story.
This law suit stinks!!!
I would not have liked to sit near a couple of smelly people either, The Captain made the right call.
Maybe they can use the money to buy soap, deodorant and clean clothes. Some people have no clue and they stink really bad simply because they are lazy. I am sure these guys knew they were stinking but they did not care until someone did and kick their butt out.
Agree its relevant to use Jewish in the headline since the couple claims it is being Jewish that got them kicked off. We all know that is not the case. Once again I fully 100% thank and support airlines kicking people off that have extremely foul body odor. Thank goodness we can use common sense in this WAY OVER PC world. It’s not because they are white, black , Jewish , Asian , old, young….THEY SMELL BAD!!!!
@Matthew what does it take to get a comment removed? chargerjohn’s comment would seem to fit pretty much anyone’s standard for being removed, at least on this blog.
I’m Italian and I’m living in Milan. I take public transportation everyday. Unfortunately lots of people have problems using deodorant and washing their clothes in 21th century… You can have a shower everyday but without deodorant or wearing dirty clothes washing is quite useless. I think the Adler family use the racism issue again jews only to put a patch on it.
Why .oh ..why would speculate about the gate agent interaction? ..me gonna ‘Spekulate..like you: Gate Agents a lower payed and easy Targuet for a sound bite?? Shameful..