A man who was kicked off a JetBlue flight says he is the victim of racial discrimination and has accused the airline of lying about the turn of events that led to his eviction from the aircraft.
Shaun Lynda was thrown off a flight from travelling from Barbados to New York for Thanksgiving after an altercation with an airline hostess on November 28.
He said: “I just asked a question, from that question it just snowballed from other events for me being moved up front.”
Mr Lynda allegedly asked why a family was moved to seats with extra leg room.
A JetBlue member of staff upgraded Mr Lynda as well but after he swapped seats a different stewardess asked him to return to his original allocated place.
She then knelt down and asked whether he was going to curb his antisocial behaviour. He said: “She kneeled down on one knee.
"Started patting me on my leg and said ‘are you going to behave yourself’?"
In response, he queried “why would you ask me that question”.
“I felt like it was an invasion of my space,” Lynda said. “I felt like I was belittled. I felt like I was patted like a dog. And I felt like how dare she do something – what if it were the opposite? What if I was the flight attendant and I patted her on her leg. How would that look?”
Mr Lynda, who missed Thanksgiving celebrations with his children, added: “To my surprise, I was put on another flight for the next day, and the actual seat that they seated me in was the seat they kicked me out of.”
Brooklyn borough president Eric Adams who said he was onboard the same flight defended Mr Lynda.
Mr Adams said if Mr Lynda had touched the woman as she had touched him, the situation would be very different.
He said: “If he would have placed his hands on the airline stewardess that would be a level of inappropriate behaviour. She should have never touched him.”
However, JetBlue has issued a written statement claiming the events were quite different.
The airline company said he had demanded extra leg room and declined to pay for an upgraded seat assignment that led to angry behaviour and inappropriate language with crew members.
"I was not cursing, I was not shouting as I don't use profanity. I was merely asking a question," said Mr Lynda.
He has filed an official complaint and is considering other appropriate action.
Civil rights attorney Roger Archibald added: “What they did in our view was inappropriate and violative of the law.”
In its statement, JetBlue wrote that it takes any claim of discrimination seriously and the decision to remove him from the flight was not based on his ethnicity or race.
They added: "As the situation risked further escalation in air after takeoff, the crew determined the customer would need to be re-booked on a different flight.
"As New York City's hometown airline, diversity is in our DNA, and we celebrate the many cultural backgrounds of our crewmembers and customers."
