Haiti’s consul general in Miami has complained to American Airlines, alleging disrespectful treatment of Haitian customers.
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An incident of alleged mistreatment of passengers with ties to Haiti’s president on an American Airlines flight from Port-au-Prince to Miami has sparked an outcry of discrimination from the Caribbean nation’s top South Florida diplomat.
American Airlines exhibits ”an ongoing pattern of disrespect” to Haitian customers, according to a letter sent as ”an official complaint” to the carrier this past weekend by Ralph Latortue, Haiti’s consul general in Miami.
The incident occurred Friday on American Flight 816. It involved Elisabeth Delatour, an advisor to Haitian President René Préval. She was traveling in business class with two minors, her son and her nephew, and had purchased an upgrade for the nephew, Sebastien Delatour.
According to the letter, an American flight attendant identified as Ms. B. Benoist ”rudely insisted, while yelling” that the nephew sit in economy class, so that an off-duty flight attendant identified as Leon Harris could sit in the business-class seat.
”There is no logical explanation why an employee of American Airlines should verbally aggress a passenger and literally push a child out of his seat, in order to replace him by an off-duty employee,” the consul general wrote. Even after an American Airlines counter agent boarded to confirm that the seat was assigned to the nephew, Benoist ”was relentless in her verbal attack against Mrs. Delatour, a full [fare] paying and gold customer,” Latortue continued.
`A MISUNDERSTANDING’
American spokeswoman Martha Pantín said the airline is ”very committed to the Haitian market” and ”has a long-standing commitment with the Haitian community both in the U.S. and in Haiti,” serving Haiti for 37 years.
”Unfortunately, there was a misunderstanding recently on flight 816 regarding an upgrade,” Pantín said via e-mail. “Our country director in Haiti has spoken to Ms. Delatour personally and has apologized. Currently we are investigating this incident and based on our investigation we will determine what further action should be taken.”
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said the FAA will also review the matter.
Latortue said the incident is not isolated, citing complaints his office has received from Haitian passengers.
One of them involved a flight from Haiti to New York last month, in which a Haitian passenger died. The death of the 44-year-old woman, who had suffered with heart disease and had asked for oxygen, drew complaints from her family that the airline did not do enough to respond.
AN EXAMPLE
”This is another outrageous example of the lack of compassion and respect toward Haitians,” the consul general wrote, adding that “passengers of other nationalities are not treated in this manner by your crew.”
Latortue’s three-page letter outlined other issues, including a flight to Miami from Port-au-Prince that was diverted to Palm Beach for 10 hours last May, and passengers were given only a bag of chips. He also pointed to what he said was the ”aggressive way” American addresses Haitian passengers at the departure gate, and to what he called routine cancellations of flights between Haiti and Miami. Delatour has decided for the time being not to travel American Airlines with her family as a protest against the airline’s treatment toward Haitian passengers, said Latortue. She will return to Haiti on a different airline, he said late Monday.
Miami Herald reporter Jacqueline Charles contributed to this report.
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