A black female doctor who teaches at Harvard was dismissed by two Delta flight attendants, who insinuated that her license was fake.
While tending to an ill passenger onboard a Delta Connection flight from New York LaGuardia to Charlotte, a FA asked Dr. Fatima Cody Sanford for her medical license. She presented it, but shortly afterward the FA returned with a colleague. They proceeded to question the authenticity of the license and asked whether it really belonged to her. Talk about an insult…
You may say these were not “real” Delta flight attendants. Instead, these were Republic Airlines FA. But as airlines continue to contract out regional flights, I find that argument increasingly unconvincing. The FAs wore Delta uniforms, the Embraer ERJ-175 was painted in Delta livery, the flight number was DL5953, and a Delta in-flight magazine was available in every seatback. It’s Delta, just like the Dao incident was United even though it occurred on a United Express flight!
Dr. Sanford shared about her incident on Twitter:
@delta I am very disappointed that your policies on #Diversity have not lead to any change. As a #blackwoman #doctor who showed my #medical license to help a passenger on DL5935 your #flightattendant still did not believe I was a #Physician. @DrSinhaEsq @DrKathyHughes
— Fatima Cody Stanford MD MPH MPA MBA FAAP FACP FAHA (@askdrfatima) October 31, 2018
Delta quickly responded:
I am so sorry for your frustration Dr. Stanford. Please know that Delta does not condone discrimination for any reason and we take your comments very seriously. We are looking into further and will be reaching out to you directly. HTD
— Delta (@Delta) October 31, 2018
My Thoughts
This story is so poignant to me. I flew from San Francisco to Frankfurt earlier this week on United. There was a minor medical emergency onboard and a doctor from business class volunteered to look at the patient. He was not asked for credentials; he was simply led back to the passenger. He also happened to be an older white man.
I don’t think racial animus drove this action on Delta. But assumptions can be so hurtful to people who have worked so hard. Imagine how you would feel if you worked for nearly a decade for a professional degree only to have it questioned. And let’s not kid ourselves: why else would a doctor with credentials be questioned except for the fact that a black women does not fit the traditional doctor stereotype?
This all comes in memory of a similar incident on Delta two years ago. Then, Delta apologized and promised it would not happen again. But here we are again.
CONCLUSION
Delta must train its FAs, even on its regional subsidiaries, that when we assume…ass/u/me…Dr. Sanford is owed an apology. More than that, Dr. Sanford is owed the same level of respect as any other trained medical professional.
(H/T: View from the Wing)
Those flight attendants need to be fired. This is not only an issue of blatant racism (although even it was “only” that, they should be fired), this was a medical emergency, and the ill party being denied treatment by a doctor could possibly lead to serious issues.
Power trip among FA’s are well known, especially american FA’s, where some where encourage by the airlines to badmouthing other competitor airlines on issue they don’t really understand.
Maybe because they thought they have the power to dissalowed passenger from flying, they also have power to dissalowed passenger from dying. Their education is not adequate mind you….
“I’m not sure racial animus drove this”; I’m not sure anyone is claiming its racial hatred, merely strong discrimination for primarily racial reasons probably with a small side of sexism contributing too.
I compliment you on your spelling.
Not the first time. What is it with americans and black people? What is so difficult to understand here?
Maybe because generally, black people have their own culture, speak their own language/accent and dress different from common whites. Thus, prejudice against black in general. Whereby for example black in britain speak british accent, in america that didn’t happened. The term african-american itself already says they are not “regular” american. American choose to differentiate based on colours and cultural descendancy. They are paying the price for it.
This is so wrong, but wasn’t the issue that the FA’s thought she was a “head doctor”, i.e. a psychiatrist, not a physician.
Psychiatrists are MDs unlike psychologists.
Racial stereotyping *is* racial animus. Do the FA’s get a pass on that just because they didn’t use the N word?
Assumptions based on race are called racism. That’s the term we have for it. I don’t understand your comment, “I don’t think racial animus drove this action on Delta.” You go on to describe racism but seem to shy away from calling it racism. Mysterious.
I consider racism an assumption of racial superiority, not prejudice. There is still no excuse for the actions of the FAs.
That’s one of the meanings. The other is “prejudice or discrimination based on race.” Your consideration of the meaning doesn’t pertain.
You’re entitled to your opinion, but my definition has always been the traditional definition of racism. I’m not sure why my definition is “meaningless” on my blog…
Come on Matthew, no offense, but you can’t claim that this isn’t racism based on “your” definition of racism… Racial prejudice (with or without a belief in racial superiority) is a definition of racism in the English language, as dictionaries tell us.
Even if you go by the Oxford English Dictionary (which narrows down the definition of racism to instances where there is a belief of racial superiority, as you point out), you’ll find that the definition of “racist” doesn’t require the racial superiority component.
Obviously we are all entitled to your opinion. I am just writing the definition in the dictionary. Sorry if you take it the wrong way.
It might be expecting too much too fast in the US. It is not easy to a group of people [blacks] to be thought as your equal much less superior to you when they were treated as they were for hundreds of years. That way of thinking about them takes years and years to change. It wasn’t that long ago that blacks were not allowed to compete with whites in sports. I remember when blacks were not allowed to play on college football teams in the South. What about black quarterbacks? head coaches? Unfortunately, sports is light years ahead of real life and it is not perfect either.
I think maybe that is the ultimate goal of diversity….to show that people may be different but we have a lot in common with each other including talents and abilities to achieve in all fields of endeavor. We will get there…eventually…maybe in the next generation or two.
It is ironic that travel is one of the best ways to learn about diversity because you see all sorts of different people. But I guess traveling from NYC to Charlotte does not offer that much experience in diversity.
First off this article is a complete joke. These were NOT delta employees. The United flight that the article is comparing this to was a United Mainline Flight and not a regional aircraft. Different companies have different protocols on how to respond to problems. The training that Delta flight attendants get are similar to the United flight attendants. Meanwhile Republic Airlines flight attendants use totally different training. Don’t bash a Fortune 500 company if non of the employees involved were even employed by Delta.
Sorry you feel differently, but I explained why I believe these are “Delta” employees.
Go bash google because your laptop is not working properly.
Non-sequitur.
So… in your logic, customers need to read, understand , and accept the outsourcing contracts prior the flight, to expect different level of service from maid with same uniform, same airlines emblem? I don’t know if you’re joking or just a plain moron….
Nathan, sorry but Matthew is right: this was a flight operated for and on behalf of Delta, the FAs represented themselves as Delta FAs under the terms of the agreement between Delta and Republic Airlines, therefore it is an issue that Delta should be held liable for. Much like any other company would be with respect to the actions of their contractors.
Lufthansa has a program where doctors submit their credentials then get some Lufthansa miles or points. When they are needed, they help the sick passenger. If no such doctor is on board, they ask for non pre cleared doctors.