American Airlines apologizes for booting basketball players from flight
American Airlines has been forced to apologize after booting two basketball players over allegations of theft.
Memphis Hustle players Marquis Teague, 24 and Trahson Burrell, 24 were thrown off Envoy Air Flight 3756 from Dallas to Sioux Falls after being accused of swiping blankets from the first class cabin.
Both were traveling economy for a Christmas Day game against the Sioux Falls Skyforce.
A flight attendant questioned the players which led to a heated exchange.
The players and their coach were then asked to leave the aircraft.
It transpired that two first-class passengers had given Teague and Burrell their blankets.
"We apologize for what occurred on this flight. We know that on this flight we let some of our customers down. Our team at American, along with Envoy Air, is reviewing what happened and will be reaching out to [the two players and the assistant coach]."
Hustle head coach Glynn Cyprien tweeted: "American Airlines needs sensitivity training to attendants on flights dealing with humans & blankets!"
"We are obviously disappointed the incident occurred and the way American Airlines chose to handle the situation," he said.
Other social comments alluded to the two NBA G-League players’ color, although the flight attendant was also black.
AA has been criticized recently for several alleged incidents of racial profiling against black passengers by civil rights group NAACP.
It issued a travel advisory against the airline in October.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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