Civil rights activist Tamika Mallory has accused American Airlines of discrimination after being removed from a flight in Miami over the weekend.
Mallory told the New York Daily News the pilot booted her from the New York-bound flight at Miami International Airport after she got into a dispute with a gate agent over her seat assignment.
She went to an airport kiosk to change her middle seat to an aisle seat but was unsuccessful. Mallory described the gate agent's response as "nasty" and "disrespectful."
However, the pilot overheard the conversation and warned Mallory that she was the one behaving rudely and that she may not make the flight.
"Then he said to me, 'Can you get on this flight? Are you going to be a problem on this flight?' I said 'No, I'm not. Actually, I'm fine. But I will write my complaint down," she said. "He looked at me and said, 'You're going to get yourself a one-way ticket off this plane.'"
Mallory was in her seat when an announcement requested she come to the front of the plane. The pilot then told her to get off without offering an explanation. She said she began to cry and left when the police arrived.
"It definitely was white male aggression. I was singled out, I was disrespected, and he was trying to intimidate me. I was discriminated against," Mallory told the Daily News.
The airline said it is looking into the incident.
"Our team does not tolerate discrimination of any kind. We take these allegations seriously and we are in the process of reaching out to our colleagues in Miami, as well as Ms. Mallory, to obtain additional information on what transpired during the boarding process," American Airlines spokesman Joshua Freed said in a statement.
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Mallory was rebooked on another flight Sunday. She said she was contacted by an American representative after calling out the airline on Twitter.
The dispute comes one year after an African-American doctor accused Delta Air Lines of "blatant discrimination" when crew members aboard a flight from Detroit to Minneapolis prevented her from assisting during an in-flight medical emergency. The incident prompted Delta to change its policy on requesting medical credentials late last year.
Mallory's account is another bad look for American, which is no stranger to high profile passenger-crew run-ins.
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