American Airlines apologises to passenger forced to wear blanket to ‘cover up’
American Airlines has apologised for asking a female passenger to wrap herself in a blanket to cover her outfit, which caused an immediate backlash on Twitter.
Dr Tisha Rowe, a black 37-year-old physician, accused the airline of racial bias and discriminating against her body type.
She says a member of the cabin crew told her to cover her ‘assets’ when she tried to board a flight from Jamaica to Miami with her eight-year-old son following a family holiday.
Posting an image of her outfit – a short, strapless playsuit – on Twitter, Rowe said the incident wouldn’t have happened if she had been white.
The tweet has since been shared almost 4,500 times and it has received 1,500 comments, many of which were critical of American Airlines’ behaviour.
Rowe claimed a flight attendant asked her to step off the plane before telling her that her outfit was ‘inappropriate’ to fly and asked her if she had a jacket to cover it up. Rowe initially defended her outfit, but when her son became upset she agreed to wrap a blanket round her waist and return to her seat, which she said left her feeling humiliated.
"To me, there was never an ounce of empathy, an ounce of apology, any attempt to maintain my dignity throughout the situation," she told Buzzfeed News.
In another tweet, Rowe said: "We are policed for being black. Our bodies are over sexualized as women and we must ADJUST to make everyone around us comfortable."
"I’ve seen white women with much shorter shorts board a plane without a blink of an eye."
The airline said it had apologised to Dr Rowe and her son and refunded their travel.
"We were concerned about Dr Rowe’s comments, and reached out to her and our team at the Kingston airport to gather more information about what occurred," a spokeswoman said in a statement to US media.
"We are proud to serve customers of all backgrounds and are committed to providing a positive, safe travel experience for everyone who flies with us."
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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