American Airlines is calling an encounter with R & B singer Lyfe Jennings at Phoenix International Airport, “troubling.” The company’s response comes amid backlash on social media after the singer posted a video on his Instagram showing an encounter with an American Airlines employee.
According to Jennings, the employee was the second person to question him about his first-class ticket.
“Sick of this s**t!!! [The] lady asked me 4 times did I know this was the 1st class line I told her yes every time,” he wrote on an Instagram caption.
When Jennings got to the gate, he says a man asked him if there was going to be “a problem on the aircraft?” because heard he heard there was a problem.
“I tell him, no, he asks me 3 more times,” says Jennings. “It wasn’t until I started recording that he let me get on the flight. I can’t tell y’all how many times a white man or white woman has asked me to step out of line to ask if I’m supposed to be flying first-class […] f*****g embarrassing. All the white people in line and I KEEP getting stopped!!!!!!! S**t be depressing,” Jennings adds in the caption.
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American Airlines is currently investigating the incident.
“Mr. Jennings’s account is troubling and doesn’t align with our values or mission to care for all of our customers,” a spokesperson tells Travel Noire. “Our team immediately began working to understand what transpired and reached out to him to learn more about his experience.”
The spokesperson adds, “per standard protocol to ensure that premium cabin and AAdvantage elite customers receive expedited service, a ticket agent inquired with Mr. Jennings— just as she had already done with all customers— to confirm he was in the correct line. We are taking a look at what subsequently transpired, but we understand there was an elevated exchange at the kiosks. We have been in contact with Mr. Jennings, we met him upon landing in DFW and one of our customer relations specialists also spoke to him later in the day to get a full account of his journey.”
