United Airlines is once again at the centre of a discrimination row, as a new lawsuit alleges an Asian woman was unjustly removed from a flight after being mistaken for another Asian passenger. The incident, which unfolded during a chaotic diversion, claims the woman was denied boarding due to accusations against someone else, with her ethnicity allegedly being the sole connection.
The bombshell legal filing, first flagged by PYOK, concerns United flight UA1627 from Las Vegas to Washington Dulles on August 29, 2024. The flight, carrying several realtors returning from a conference, was forced to divert to Baltimore (BWI) due to severe weather. Passengers then endured an “unpleasant” five-hour tarmac delay due to a lack of available gates.
Chaos in the Cabin: A Medical Emergency and a “Snarky” Response
During the lengthy delay, tensions flared. One of the realtors’ colleagues began feeling unwell, “sweating profusely and suffering pain in his chest.” Passengers claim a flight attendant was “quite dismissive” of his medical condition, allegedly writing off his symptoms as “a panic attack.”
It was at this point that one of the Asian realtors onboard confronted the flight attendant over her perceived rudeness, reportedly receiving a “snarky” response.
Eventually, passengers were allowed to deplane, only to be permitted to reboard the aircraft around midnight. However, as a second Asian realtor attempted to board – a woman who had, according to the lawsuit, “nothing to do with the above situation” and had reportedly spent the entire delay “reading her Kindle” – she was stopped. She was informed she would not be allowed to fly, based on accusations from a flight attendant.
“They All Look Alike”: A Case of Mistaken Identity?
The lawsuit alleges that this second passenger, Jacquelyn Chiao, was “incorrectly identified based on her ethnicity” despite sitting seven rows away from the initial confrontation. The complaint claims the flight attendant failed “to note the seat number of the passenger they were complaining about, or take a more detailed description than ‘Asian female.'”
When Ms. Chiao’s co-workers stepped in to support her at the gate, all four of them were ultimately denied boarding and, shockingly, “escorted out of the airport by police.” The flight attendant reportedly claimed that one of the passengers had “physically pushed her,” an accusation vehemently denied by all four plaintiffs in their lawsuit against the airline.
The realtors have provided witnesses, including an off-duty United employee, who reportedly saw the entire exchange and has offered to testify on their behalf. The lawsuit, filed in a Maryland district court, demands both compensatory and punitive damages.
A Troubling Pattern?
This incident comes as United Airlines has faced previous discrimination allegations. The airline recently settled a lawsuit over anti-Asian discrimination involving a Denver-based catering employee, and famously paid a “massive settlement” after an Asian doctor, David Dao, was forcibly removed from a bloodied flight in 2017.
Other major US airlines have also faced similar accusations. American Airlines, for instance, settled a lawsuit after a group of Black men were removed from a flight over an alleged ‘body odor’ issue, despite not knowing one another. They also faced a lawsuit after two Orthodox Jewish men were removed from a flight due to the behaviour of one, even though they were not travelling together.
The lawsuit against United claims that if the details are as explained, it suggests a concerning lack of proper identification protocols, leading to passengers being wrongly targeted based on their appearance.
Feature image: Dylan T
