United Airlines Faces Another “Young, White, Blonde” Charter Flight Lawsuit

A new lawsuit alleges that United Airlines kowtowed to the desire of the Los Angeles Dodgers to place young, white, blonde flight attendants on its charter flights for the baseball team. But will such an accusation be proven in court? I have my doubts.

A New United Airlines Charter Lawsuit Alleges Preference For Young, White, Blonde, Blue-Eyed, Female Flight Attendants

In 2020, a pair of flight attendants sued United Airlines, alleging impermissible preference for young, white, blonde, female staff. Shortly thereafter, Dawn Todd, 50, who is black, and Darby Quezada, 44, who is black, Mexican, and Jewish, joined United’s charter program.

Now those two are suing United, alleging that they were passed over for a coveted charter assignment with the LA Dodgers because of their skin color and ethnicity.

“Plaintiffs had the necessary experience and qualifications, but their requests were dismissed and rejected because Plaintiffs were not white.”

Specifically, the two said they were chosen to fly for the Dodgers in 2020 but had their assignments dramatically reduced in 2022, with the explanation that the Dodgers preferred a “certain look” they did not match. They claim the Dodgers charter was comprised of “white, young, thin women who are predominately blond and blue-eyed.”

In fact, their complaint names several flight attendants–Rachel Loporchio, Katrina Nelson, Jenna McCue, Renee Pasternik, Lauren Schwartz, and Dorothy (Dottie) Young–presumably young, thin, and white, who they claim were placed on the Dodgers charter “without an interview.”

The complaint claims that a United supervisor explained to the plaintiffs that Scott Akasaki, the Dodger’s Director of Team Travel preferred white and Asian flight attendants.

“Scott only wants white and Asian flight attendants so I can remove you, I have the power you are nothing.”

United Airlines has said the lawsuit has no merit:

“United fosters an environment of inclusion and does not tolerate discrimination of any kind. We believe this lawsuit is without merit and intend to defend ourselves vigorously.”

This story immediately reminded me of the research I did for a similar lawsuit in 2020, the lawsuit that apparently drove the two flight attendants to seek to fly sports charters in the first place. As you can read below, United has strict rules in place for charter assignments and while teams can specify specific crew members, there is no mechanism in place for overt discrimination.

That said, if the practical effect is that the sports charters are still young, white, and blonde, you have to wonder whether United is impermissibly turning a blind eye to such discrimination, contrary to California law. Proving such discriminatory intent, however, is a very different matter.

The story below, by the way, was settled out of court. Perhaps that settlement is what drives this lawsuit.

My original story, published on September 13, 2020, appears below.

United Airlines is accused of favoring “young, white, blonde” flight attendants over older, non-white flight attendants when it comes to staffing charter flights. But does the lawsuit have legs?

How Does United Airlines’ Charter Flight Program Work?

Live and Let’s Fly reviewed a document titled “Inflight Charter Program: Flight Attendant Guide” and dated April 2020. The 10-page document provides background on United’s charter flight operations and details how flight attendants are chosen for charter service.

Section 7.A.9 of United’s 2016-2021 Flight Attendant Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (called JBCA for short) holds:

Lawsuit Claims United Airlines Only Assigns “Young, White, Blonde” Flight Attendants On Charter Flights

A lawsuit (.pdf) filed in San Mateo County of the California Superior Court by two United flight attendants alleges that United Airlines has impermissibly discriminated against flight attendants on the basis of age, race, ancestry, and gender in violation of California law.

One of the plaintiff flight attendants is named Kim Guillory. She started with Continental Airlines in 1992 and has been a flight attendant with Continental/United ever since. She is Black and over 39 years old. Sharon Tesler is the second plaintiff flight attendants. She is also over 39 years old and began flying with United in 1986. She is Jewish.

The heart of the lawsuit is how flight attendants are chosen for charter flights. The lawsuit alleges:

Teams are permitted to go with an “open time crew” or a “dedicated crew” model. For those teams using the “open time crew” model, which means that the positions are open to any flight attendant to obtain through the open market, the flight crews demonstrate higher diversity among age, race, and gender. However, the “open time crew” model is rare because instead, United encourages the majority of its customers to elect to hire a “dedicated crew” of flight attendants. For many of the customers – including but not limited to, the San Francisco 49ers, the Los Angeles Rams, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the New Orleans Saints – their “dedicated crews” have been young, white , female, and predominately blonde/blue-eyed for years.

Describing the history of labor law surrounding flight attendants, the lawsuit charges United with continuing to discriminate on the basis of race, gender, and age:

By statute and as a result of decades of jurisprudence, United is prohibited from using age, race, and gender to make employment decisions. It is prohibited from using age, race, and gender to offer special assignments, promotions, training, and workplace benefits. The unlawful use of these factors to determine he Inflight Charter Coordinators and the flight attendants serving charter flights is merely the latest in United’s unceasing and recidivist efforts to lure its customers with the sexualized image of young, white, female flight attendants.

The lawsuit details how Guillory and Tesler tried to book charter trips in United’s online flight attendant flight bidding system but were blocked and later told by supervisors that such trips were reserved for a “preferred list of flight attendants.”

Guillory complained and was told that “the teams themselves were providing lists identifying individuals flight attendants to United which they selected, and there was just nothing United could do except comply with the customer’s request and provide the selected flight attendants.”

Tesler complained and was told by United’s charter supervisor at the time, Jason Hammontree, that “seniority had no bearing whatsoever on whether a flight attendant would be selected for participation in the charter program and that it was based solely on ‘likability’ of a particular flight attendant.”

Importantly:

In May 2019, Ms. Tesler wrote to Colleen Roth, her local HR contact, about the continuing practices. Ms. Tesler asked how a team would know her name if she was not able to apply for the opportunity to work with them. Ms. Roth responded and informed Ms. Tesler that the lists had been built “based on the team’s preferences.”

In summary, the lawsuit claims United favors young, white, blonde haired, blue-eyed flight attendants over more senior, Black, and Jewish employees. No exhibits of evidence were attached to the complaint.

United’s Response To Charter Discrimination Lawsuit

I asked United Airlines about the case and a spokesperson sent me the following statement:

“United Airlines is proud of our track record on diversity, equity and inclusion. While we cannot comment on this ongoing litigation, the flight attendants included in our sports team charter program are largely representative of our overall flight attendant population in regards to age and race.

“Importantly, flight attendant eligibility to work a charter flight is based solely on performance and attendance and has nothing to do with age, race or gender.”

I followed up with a request for more detail on what “performance” means and how flight attendants are specifically chosen (are physical looks taken into account?), but United declined to comment further.

Do The Flight Attendants Have A Case?

The plaintiffs are suing under California’s non-discrimination law. It prohibits an employer from discriminating on the basis of the age, race, or gender. Plaintiffs cannot claim a contractual violation because of section 7.A.9 of their contract I noted above.

I have one key factual question which influences my one key legal question.

If interviews are not open to all flight attendants, how do teams know which flight attendants to choose? Does United provide pictures of every flight attendant, perhaps something like a staff directory? I’ve reached out to a number of sports teams to ask that very question.

How United provides personnel information to its charter clients may directly influence any legal analysis of the case. If the allegations in the complaint are true, it does appear that it is the sports teams, not United, that are discriminating. But not exclusively so if United is aiding in that effort by providing these organizations with the means to do so.

There’s a certain unspoken reality in this situation that also explains why glamorous “Singapore Girls” are a still around in 2020. However, we don’t need to debate the motives for discrimination as much as we need to examine whether United runs afoul of California law by allegedly allowing charter clients to choose flight attendants on the basis of physical appearance.

I do want to add that my initial research reveals that charter flights are not predominantly staffed by young, white flight attendants. Indeed, here’s a picture from a Cleveland Indians charts for the 2017 MLB Playoffs Division Series:

Here’s one from a Marie Claire charter:

The figures I cite above also come from a reliable source.

I’ve scoured Instagram looking for pictures of United charter flights with predominantly young, blonde, white females and have not been able to find any.

Below, you can watch an interesting NBC piece taking a behind-the-scenes look at United’s NFL charter operation. Notice the flight attendant isn’t exactly blonde…

Do I think the case is a loser? Too early to tell. But if my initial research is correct, the case is quite thin.

For the record, all of my research was independently conducted.

CONCLUSION

United Airlines is responding to the lawsuit by denying any wrongdoing. The circumstances surrounding United’s charter flights do seem to suggest that clients have great leeway in discriminating in their choice of flight attendant. Whether such discrimination on the part of the charter clients implicates United remains to be seen.

I know many United flight attendants read Live and Let’s Fly. I’ve spoken to many of you already. If you have any insight or feedback, please share it below. My object is to find out exactly how flight attendants are chosen for charter duty. How do teams know who is available in order to make their “dedicated crew” selections?

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