Southwest Passenger Says She Was Ejected From Flight Based on Her Race
How did your country report this? Share your view in the comments.
Diverging Reports Breakdown
Southwest Passenger Says She Was Ejected From Flight Based on Her Race
Briana Hicks, a pharmacist from Chicago, said she was targeted based on her race. She was the only Black person sitting in the exit row. The flight attendant berated her for being on her phone and demanded that she be removed from the aircraft when she reported his behavior to two other attendants, the lawsuit said. The plane landed in Washington four hours after her original arrival time, according to the lawsuit.
The woman, Briana Hicks, a pharmacist from Chicago, boarded a Southwest flight from Chicago Midway International Airport to Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 20 and sat in an exit row. When the flight attendant began briefing the passengers in the row about emergency procedures, Dr. Hicks put her phone on airplane mode and then placed it facedown in her lap, the lawsuit said.
The flight attendant then singled her out for being on her phone and berated her repeatedly, the lawsuit claimed, and later demanded that she be removed from the aircraft when she reported his behavior to two other attendants. She was rebooked on a flight that landed in Washington four hours after her original arrival time, according to the lawsuit.
The suit, filed in Chicago, said that the other passengers in the exit row appeared to be white and that one asked the flight attendant, who was also white, why he was pointing out the actions of the only Black passenger seated there, seeing as others in the exit row were on their phones and laptops as well.
“Being singled out for mistreatment based on my race was painful enough; enduring that discrimination on top of being publicly removed from a flight and having my entire travel schedule derailed was almost unbearable,” Dr. Hicks said in a statement.
According to the lawsuit, Dr. Hicks was the only Black person sitting in the exit row. After loudly and repeatedly asking Dr. Hicks to put her phone away, the flight attendant was confronted by the white passenger, who informed him that Dr. Hicks was listening and had put her phone down.
After the briefing, the attendant returned to the front of the plane, at which point Dr. Hicks went to the back of the plane to report what had happened to two flight attendants, who informed her they could not do anything about the other attendant’s behavior, according to the lawsuit.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/travel/southwest-airlines-lawsuit-racism.html