There’s no doubt a lot of discrimination in the airline industry, and we see stories that clearly reflect that reality all the time. At the same time, there’s also just a lot of plain bad service in the airline industry, and also confusion about airline policies. With that in mind, I’m not exactly sure what to make of this story…
In this post:
Stranded teachers get different treatment
Over the weekend, all State Teachers of the Year were invited to attend Space Camp on the site of the United States Space & Rocket Center museum at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. When this camp was over, many of the teachers flew out of Huntsville, Alabama on Monday, July 26, 2021.
This is where this story comes into play. Sabrina Suluai-Mahuka is the American Samoan teacher of the year. She was on a “joyous high celebrating the end of Space Camp,” but her feeling quickly changed after her experience with American Airlines staff at Huntsville Airport. She says the way they treated her left her with a feeling of “panic, disbelief, and hurt.”
Essentially Suluai-Mahuka and her Asian female colleague were treated vastly different than their white male colleague. She outlines what happens in a series of Tweets, though to summarize:
- At 4:01PM her flight was canceled, and at 4:10PM she tried to get assistance at the check-in counter
- The American Airlines representative told her they couldn’t get her on a flight until they next day
- She was informed that American wouldn’t provide her with a hotel or anything else, since the cancelation was due to weather; her Asian colleague saw a different representative, but got the same answer
- Their white male colleague allegedly received a totally different response from the same American Airlines representatives; they offered him “all accommodations without him even asking,” including a hotel room, meal voucher, and taxi voucher, and by 4:44PM he was fully squared away
- Suluai-Mahuka states that if it was the company’s policy to not provide accommodation during weather cancelations that would be one thing, “but the blatant discrimination and display of racism” from American employees is unacceptable
Anthony Coy-Gonzales, the white male colleague that they reference, confirms this story on his Facebook:
Read and share widely! My friends and fellow teachers of the year (both AAPI) were denied the privilege I was offered 20 minutes later with the same representatives when our flight was cancelled. They were given nothing but dismissal when they requested help. I walked in and was offered a hotel, taxi, and meal without asking. Same flight. Same time. Same airline. American Airlines This is not okay.
American Airlines issued the following statement regarding the incident:
“American Airlines strives to ensure all customers feel cared for throughout their journey. We’re deeply concerned by the allegations shared and are working to investigate the matter further. Our team has reached out to Ms. Suluai-Mahuka to apologize for her experience and provide reimbursement for her hotel-related expenses.”
My take on this incident
While it’s not stated what flights passengers were booked on, reading between the lines it seems they were flying American Airlines to Charlotte:
- Charlotte had terrible thunderstorms on Monday, which had operational impacts on American Airlines (I experienced the impact of this on Tuesday morning, and had a five hour delay)
- Based on the timing of their interaction, I’m guessing they were booked on AA5113, which was the 7PM Huntsville to Charlotte flight, as it got canceled
It’s hard to know exactly what to make of this story. Do I understand why the two female Asian teachers felt discriminated against when they received different treatment than a white male? Of course!
That being said, my bigger question is how the heck the one teacher got all of this from American?! American’s policy is to not offer hotels or anything else in the case of weather delays, and this was pretty clearly a weather delay.
I’ve flown American a lot for the past decade, and I can’t even count how many overnight delays I’ve had due to weather over the years. I’ve never once received a hotel voucher, and sure as heck haven’t received a taxi or meal voucher. Ever.
So obviously the one teacher received preferential treatment, but why did he get something that virtually no one else gets? American really proactively offered a hotel, meal voucher, and taxi voucher, to a passenger during a weather delay?
Suluai-Mahuka describes the rude treatment she received from American Airlines staff, and how disinterested they were. If it makes her feel any better, that’s unfortunately often just par for the course at the airline. During my five hour delay on Tuesday in Charlotte I approached a gate agent once, and without looking up she said “if you’re here to ask a question, I don’t have any answers.” Lovely!
Bottom line
A teacher from American Samoa was on a canceled American Airlines flight out of Huntsville on Monday afternoon. She wasn’t offered anything other than to be rebooked on the next available flight, which is American’s policy, and is fair enough.
What makes this story troubling is that one of her colleagues received a hotel, food, and taxi voucher, without even asking. I’ve never received that as an American customer when there was a weather delay.
I’d assume there’s some context missing here, but the other teacher confirms the story, and American’s statement doesn’t deny what happened, so…
What do you make of this story? Are you as confused as I am?
This happened in July 2016, before Trump administration. We were at American Airline check-in counter at Harrisburg airport in Pennsylvania. We were told our flight to Charlotte, NC is delayed and won’t make it to our flight back home to San Francisco. That was the last flight from Harrisburg that day. American Airline staff told all the passengers that they will pay for the hotel and dinner in Harrisburg so that we can fly the...
This happened in July 2016, before Trump administration. We were at American Airline check-in counter at Harrisburg airport in Pennsylvania. We were told our flight to Charlotte, NC is delayed and won’t make it to our flight back home to San Francisco. That was the last flight from Harrisburg that day. American Airline staff told all the passengers that they will pay for the hotel and dinner in Harrisburg so that we can fly the next day. One by one, they issued hotel and dinner vouchers to the passengers . They said they cannot put all the passengers into a same hotel because there were not enough vacancies in one hotel. We got vouchers for Hilton Hotel. I think some others got Fairfield Inn, but I cannot remember for sure. I was a bit surprised because Hilton is usually more expensive. This should have foreboded this sad experience. Those who got Hilton vouchers were taken to Hilton in downtown Harrisburg by the Hilton hotel shuttle. When we got there we all went to the check-in counter of Hilton. The first party was a middle-aged African American couple. Much to our surprise, the hotel clerk said they won’t accept the vouchers. The next group, Chinese family tried their vouchers but the clerk said the same thing. I am an Asian, and my voucher was also declined. Hilton staff said they cannot do anything about it and told us to call American Airline. It was already after 9pm and we were sure the staff at the check-in counter had gone home already. We realized we were stranded at the lobby of Hilton Hotel, Harrisburg in PA. That’s when I noticed that all the parties except for one who were sent to Hilton Hotel were non-white; African American, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Hispanic. There was only one white family with two small children, but their English didn’t sound like American; they looked like Eastern European. So where did all white American passengers go? They must have gotten the vouchers for Fairfield Inn and their vouchers must have been authentic, but not ours.
I called 1-800 number for American Airline and after 45 minutes of waiting, I was told to find lodging on our own and requested for reimbursement to American Airline. I never tied to send out the request for reimbursement to American Airline, because I knew they won’t pay for it.
Just like Jason Derulo* was told to pay his own money for the luggage, we had to pay our own money for the lodging and dinner. We have to bear this kind of treatment silently, while the white American passengers enjoyed lodging and dinner.
I know other airlines are doing the similar practice. I hope you as a celebrity could communicate this type of wrongdoing to the world and save helpless victims of racial discrimination from the U.S. airline industries.
*Reference
"Jason Derulo alleges racial discrimination by airline" by Lisa Respers France, CNN
Published February 9, 2017
https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/09/entertainment/jason-derulo-american-airlines/index.html
Did the other teacher have staus? If so, itscall the difference in the world. Research the whole story. AA is one of the more aggressive pro-divirsity airlines.
What's missing is that there was a cancelled flight due to maintenance at the same time (those passengers do get hotel/meal accomodations). It's also missing that the agents working that day were all black... So who's discriminating???
A few years ago, I was at a pharmacy when a clerk that had been very rude to me in the past was (par for the course) rude to a woman who had immigrated from Africa. After the statement "do I need to get a translator" (with an eye roll) was used the customer called her on the rudeness. Needless to say it didn't go much better (and the immigrant was clearly very educated and...
A few years ago, I was at a pharmacy when a clerk that had been very rude to me in the past was (par for the course) rude to a woman who had immigrated from Africa. After the statement "do I need to get a translator" (with an eye roll) was used the customer called her on the rudeness. Needless to say it didn't go much better (and the immigrant was clearly very educated and had full use of the English language.)
As the next customer I proceeded to have the equivalent terrible customer service from the clerk. Due to the racist comment, though, I decided that this needed reporting and happened to have a work relationship with the director of that group of pharmacies. After talking over the issue, I got a "thank you" and didn't expect a big change.
To my very big surprise a couple months later I was at the same pharmacy with the same clerk and I couldn't believe how well she was treating everyone. I assumed she was a hopeless case and would eventually be fired, but clearly something turned her around and she was not just polite to me, but to some African immigrant children who were "being kids".
In my situation, it was both racism and a case of someone providing equal opportunity rudeness. Whatever fixed one, clearly fixed the other, though.
My personal guess is that even though most people don't expect much from AA except for equal opportunity lack of care and concern, there are still those very rare random times they (gasp) go the extra mile.
Makes me appreciate living at a Delta hub.
This was discrimination. There needs to be consequences for the staff.
@Lucky
"Do I understand why the two female Asian teachers felt discriminated against"
Samoans are not Asian. Polynesian would be more accurate and less discriminatory.
Perhaps agents (male/female) treating customers differently based on gender, age, looks? I’ve seen this happen. Either way, discrimination based strictly on any reason is wrong. If this story is ligit AA needs to fully investigate.
There are so many different variables to this story that obviously have been omitted from this "political" narrative. Where are the complaints from all other passengers who didn't receive compensation or fair treatment? Why wasn't an AA supervisor consulted or quoted in the article? In the event of an originating flight cancellation due to weather, passengers are responsible for their own lodging, food, and transportation costs. This wasn't a connecting flight. How do we know...
There are so many different variables to this story that obviously have been omitted from this "political" narrative. Where are the complaints from all other passengers who didn't receive compensation or fair treatment? Why wasn't an AA supervisor consulted or quoted in the article? In the event of an originating flight cancellation due to weather, passengers are responsible for their own lodging, food, and transportation costs. This wasn't a connecting flight. How do we know the passenger didn't have travel insurance through AA which covers weather delays and cancellations? If you believe this story you also believe Bill Clinton never inhaled or had sexual relations with "that woman" Monica Lewinsky.
Seems to me the 1st question I would ask is “What loyalty/AAdvantage status was the teacher that received the accommodations?” That makes the biggest difference in airline employee/customer interactions.
Fire the counter staff.
This is one of the several reasons I never fly American anymore! Delta all the way
There is definitely something else going on with this story that has not been stated. It could be a false story, but i could be wrong.
This story sounds a bit strange. I lived in Huntsville for 5 years, and used the airport many times. The employees in general were quite a bit friendlier than most airports I've ever flown into or out of. In fact, my very first flight was on an American Eagle flight from HSV to O'Hare. Of course, if it did happen, then action should be taken. But, I'm skeptical.
Your white privilege makes you think that way.
RF - your inability to not inject woke racist rhetoric into any conversation makes you post that way.
Ridiculous taking the white teachers word for what he received . I am a white women and whenever I was stranded due to weather the airlines don’t pay for hotel etc but your trip insurance or credit card does .
Seems to me the white male teacher did not state all the fact and stirred the pot bashing the airline !!!! Shame on all of them
Next time ride the bus or drive
Enough of the airline bashing
Here we have a wild Karen defending a corporation rather than other human beings.
Wow that’s rich. Criticize a poster for not defending a human being and then characterizing another human you know nothing about a ‘Karen’ based off one internet post. Great job keyboard warrior. Now go pet your cat you sad individual.
Dear Americans - Samoa is one of the Pacific Island countries, not an Asian country. Not even close.
Agree with the other comments, I do not think you read into the entire story. Did the white male colleague go to exactly the same staff just within minutes of the two women colleagues? Did the white male colleague have airline status or some other benefits? Did he not care because he could charge to certain cards which offer trip interruption refunds? The details matter a lot. It is easy for the two women to...
Agree with the other comments, I do not think you read into the entire story. Did the white male colleague go to exactly the same staff just within minutes of the two women colleagues? Did the white male colleague have airline status or some other benefits? Did he not care because he could charge to certain cards which offer trip interruption refunds? The details matter a lot. It is easy for the two women to claim that they were mistreated but they just say they were denied. And I agree with the other comments the women and others probably did not pay attention to the detail either. They could have been looking for a way to get American to pay for it even though they were told no.
Ben, why is the race card always played in cases like this without all the information?
This actually happened to me once when stuck for a weather delay in Raleigh…the Delta staff pulled me and a couple of people to another gate and gave us vouchers for a hotel and rebooked us first while everyone else lined up at our original gate. Turns out that it was because we had booked full fare tickets at a much higher rate, and had the right to get a full refund and fly another...
This actually happened to me once when stuck for a weather delay in Raleigh…the Delta staff pulled me and a couple of people to another gate and gave us vouchers for a hotel and rebooked us first while everyone else lined up at our original gate. Turns out that it was because we had booked full fare tickets at a much higher rate, and had the right to get a full refund and fly another airline. There was almost a riot among the other passengers when they found out at the hotel.
Stop acting like an entitled clown. Anyone who suffers a weather delay that will force them to overnight can get a full refund regardless of how much their ticket cost. This had nothing to do with your “full fare you paid” or perceived ability to be eligible for a refund and AA being scared you’d rebook on a different carrier. It’s actually cringeworthy that you’d post that as though you were some special elite group of passengers.
Let me start that its not always discrimination. Maybe the women were rude and demanding, and the guy had a smile on his face and was polite? Does anyone realize that if you are kind to a fellow human and treat them like a person, instead of barking demands, you get treated better? When there is limited perks available, who do you think the agent is going to help? Will it be a person who...
Let me start that its not always discrimination. Maybe the women were rude and demanding, and the guy had a smile on his face and was polite? Does anyone realize that if you are kind to a fellow human and treat them like a person, instead of barking demands, you get treated better? When there is limited perks available, who do you think the agent is going to help? Will it be a person who smiles and uses please and thank you, or the person that demands things? Being rude and demanding to someone does not give them an incentive to do anything but what they have to do. I notice when I fly I seldom see anyone reply to the flight attendant welcoming them aboard, say please and thank you when they come around for drink/meal service or when they thank you when you de-board? Try being kind and its amazing what an agent/flight attendant will do for you.
Instead of automatically using the race card look at the whole situation.
I am not a rude person but I also don't go around grinning everywhere I go. I am professional, the gate agent is a professional. I shouldn't have to smile or to be overly polite to receive customer service. My experience with AA and the likes have been that they don't care, until and unless, I display my elite status. Customer service shouldn't be a privilege.
I have EP status with AA. I have been offered a room on most wx delays that went overnight. Maybe that is the difference here? Did the other teachers have status?
I simply do not believe the gate staff would discriminate like that... so blatently.
Why does it have to be about race? As many commentators have said, it is very rare and against AA’s policy to give out vouchers, etc.
So the gate agent was showing an exception to this one guy. Did the same gate agent turn down other white men? That’s seems relevant right? If the gate agent gave vouchers to every white male but not to anyone else, then race would clearly be involved.
...Why does it have to be about race? As many commentators have said, it is very rare and against AA’s policy to give out vouchers, etc.
So the gate agent was showing an exception to this one guy. Did the same gate agent turn down other white men? That’s seems relevant right? If the gate agent gave vouchers to every white male but not to anyone else, then race would clearly be involved.
In this case it’s impossible to know. Maybe this guy was just nice and polite. Had elite status. Etc. maybe the two teachers didn’t have a good attitude or didn’t ask in a way that made the gate agent sympathize with them.
The point is there is no way of knowing, so better to not make accusations of racism and discrimination based on lack of evidence.
Call Perry Mason! More investigation needed by Paul Drake!
Only possibilities that I can think of is that the women asked earlier than the men and there was an update where the agents were instructed to offer hotel vouchers after the women had left the counter or the men had top tier elite status. Regardless the agent should have been empathetic and polite to everyone.
If the lucky passenger had status, would that have incentivized the gate agent to give him a voucher for accommodations? Don't know, just asking.
Sounds more the gate agents and ticket counter agents at HSV were not on the same page more than discrimination.
More woke BS from people whose only currency is victimhood.
Maybe the guy had status with AA. I have had United provide hotel accommodation for weather related flight cancellation as a 1K.
This is why I pay more to fly DL. Never had any issue. Once my 11pm SEA-FAI flight got canceled - gate agent offered an amenity kit, food voucher and hotel stay. Didn’t end up staying at their offered hotel, so DL customer service called me offered $100 credit for future flight. I didn’t even have Silver status at that time. AA suck
Maybe the gate agent really liked the male passenger.....
So typical.
Assume it's all about race and post without actually doing any investigation or reviewing evidence aside from social media rants.
Without a direct interview with all the parties involved and without any facts in hand, this is being prematurely reported and not responsible journalism.
Ben you’ve been grasping at perceived slights to black Americans for months, grasping at straws.
Now you see Asians face actual discrimination and you say they “felt discriminated”
Your biases are astounding. You hate whites and asians.
no discrimination here as this is how we all get treated at aa (and that's their policy for weather).
question is why they made a special exception for the white guy if that even happened...a bit hard to believe though.
Ben and Others,
You are 100% right that the AA corporate policy is that accommodations are not provided to pax for weather or ATC IROPS. However, these agents have a lot of discretion, and they certainly can and do issue hotel and other types of accommodation vouchers as policy exceptions. This goes for AA, DL, UA, and any other airline. I've gotten hotel vouchers a handful of times even if I just missed my...
Ben and Others,
You are 100% right that the AA corporate policy is that accommodations are not provided to pax for weather or ATC IROPS. However, these agents have a lot of discretion, and they certainly can and do issue hotel and other types of accommodation vouchers as policy exceptions. This goes for AA, DL, UA, and any other airline. I've gotten hotel vouchers a handful of times even if I just missed my flight, my own fault. Again, it just goes back to the discretion of the station. Of course plenty of times I've not gotten anything as you note. But you have traveled enough and your experienced enough, you should of course know that inconsistency is the norm in the airline industry. You could ask 5 agents the same question and get 6.5 interpretations of opolicy. If someone says no, just ask another agent. Or as GAry says, take bites of the apple until you get what you wanbt. But I'm surprised with your frequency of travel you've never gotten a discretionary policy exception hotel voucher! Its also quite common for them to give vouchers to some pax but not all.
At least AA’s PR team is handling this better than when Lufthansa made me replace my Rainbow colored surgical mask for “a normal one,” then said such decisions are at the gate agent’s discretion.
As a gay male let me be the first to applaud Lufthansa. They provided you with an alternative free of charge. Why gays feel the need to let their sexuality proceed them by covering their face, cars, phones, etc with rainbow masks, stickers, cases, etc is just odd. You can be proud of who you are *and* keep your business to yourself. No need to push it in people’s faces.
I've experienced similar situation where last flight of day was cancelled due to storms (DFW) and I had to overnight. Without asking I was offered hotel (Grand Hyatt attached to airport) as well as food voucher both for that night as well as next morning. I was AA EXP at the time so I assumed maybe that had something to do with it?
At one point I was told that AA GA can do many things. Perhaps, (1) the agent was nice and managed to accommodate a passenger. (2) the agent made a mistake and issued the vouchers against AA policy, (3) the passenger has a high Eagle rating (if that is still in existence).
I think this is exactly what happened. The teacher who got the hotel probably casually mentioned something like "oh, it was such a great trip for teachers of the year - and what a bummer the flight has to be delayed" - probably without expecting anything - and the agent decided to be nice..
“An AA employee decided to be nice”, you sure about that? It’s equivalent to saying earth is flat.
I’ve held high status with AA since 2013 and never once received a room or anything else as a result of weather related cancellations. Hard to believe this guy’s story especially given the financial crisis AA has suffered in the past year.
I'm not buying that the dude got everything he said he did without asking. Nothing in this story adds up.
I don't either. I'm sure there are cameras that picked up everything, and if he was indeed issued vouchers, then it would be easy for AA to find the paper trail.
Did the male passenger have status with AA...food for thought.
So people in Alabama were racist? Shocker.
Yet, if you actually spent any time there, you would have seen black and white people hanging out together and getting along in a way that you rarely see in most northern states.
Spent years going to Birmingham monthly for work, 3-4 days at a time. That wasn't my experience there.
Birmingham is not the entire state. I grew up in Alabama, and a vast majority of people are not racist. Sure, there are some, but not any more than you see elsewhere. If anything, especially in Birmingham, non-whites tend to be more overtly racist than white people. That is my experience.
Most likely they were disappointed do not get any hotel accommodations and decided to pull out the race card and just say whatever story to get AA's attention.
I'm just gonna take issue with the last line where you say that AA not providing accomadation is reasonable. So what if it's cause of the weather, you're delayed.
Just last week we were defending AA for kicking off and verbally berating a passenger for calling a flight attendant or gate agent a "B". Now we are saying them behaving like Bs is par for the course. Hmm... Can we retract the last story of the pompous gate manager?
So now I know the truth behind all those lies we've been told all along.
Example of lies we were told to get special treatment from airlines.
1. Fly on honeymoon, birthday 2. Dress up 3. Pull a JRL scheme
Truth is very simple
1. Be a White Male. (the real JRL secret)
Also be attractive.
I’ve seen that happen.
Your victim complex is showing.
He's married gay
If everything that they saying is true, its troubling.
Only other factor that I can think of is, pethaps he has an AAdvantage elite status.
I was wondering the same, but if so he should have stated that fact is his post.
But then that wouldn’t allow him to flex his woke muscle. That’d expose him, which hopefully will still happen. Doesn’t he have better things to focus on like preparing his next CRT lesson?
While I agree generally AA doesn't give out accommodations for weather delays, I did receive similar accommodations once at ORD from AA before (hotel and dining credit). So I won't say it's a complete zero chance , maybe 0.01%? lol
Ben, please please tell me you reported a comment about that CLT gate agent to AA customer service? I'm not one to go "ruining people's careers" but damn, that's flat out unprofessional to not even look up at you and dismiss a paying customer with such a comment. Holy smokes.
I’ve encountered some unsavory airline employees in various cities, but nothing compares to those in CLT. Add in the pandemic and lack of staff AA is facing and it’s only empowered these agents to be even more unprofessional because they know AA is desperate for their employment. They simply don’t care AT ALL. They won’t do anything that requires them to actually help or go above and beyond their minimum requirements. They show up to...
I’ve encountered some unsavory airline employees in various cities, but nothing compares to those in CLT. Add in the pandemic and lack of staff AA is facing and it’s only empowered these agents to be even more unprofessional because they know AA is desperate for their employment. They simply don’t care AT ALL. They won’t do anything that requires them to actually help or go above and beyond their minimum requirements. They show up to collect their paycheck, not work or provide customer service.
Another CLT example: I flew through CLT last December and on my inbound flight the guy in 2C refused to comply with the FA working first class and wear his mask correctly. He first had it on but pulled down beneath his mouth under his chin. This was at the gate for the flight from JAX-CLT. She asked him very nicely to please cover his mouth and nose unless he’s actively drinking or eating (which he wasn’t). He pulled it up only to then pull it down beneath his nose as soon as she turned around. Once she got back to the galley and saw his nose uncovered she came back and asked professionally and politely for him to please ensure his nose was covered unless actively eating or drinking. He claimed the mask didn’t fit over both his nose or mouth so she kindly brought him a second mask.
This game of pulling the mask down went on the WHOLE flight. Why she didn’t have cops waiting for him on arrival into CLT and have him banned is still unclear to me.
After we landed and parked at the gate I was in row 1 and after the seat belt sign was turned off I stood up to retrieve my bag in the overhead bin. He stood up also even though this was during the time they were making announcements that changes to deplaning procedure had changed and they deplaned one row at a time and to please remain seated until your rows turn. No sooner had she hung up the PA making that announcement when he decided to flat out ignore it and do as he please. My patience with this guy was wearing out, but what happened next pushed me over the edge. He completely took his mask off. I asked him politely to please show respect for your fellow passengers and to please put his mask back on. The flight attendant has reminded you several times. He flat out said no. So when I realized there were no cops waiting and this jackass was going to get away with this nonsense I made a beeline for the gate agent who met our flight to explain the situation hoping she’d get a Supervisor or authority to either boot this guy of his next flight or provide a more stern warning. She didn’t give two shits, and this was during the time when there were almost daily articles of passengers getting banned for not following mask orders by airline employees.
But that’s CLT staff for you - they don’t care about anything that requires them to do anything other than the minimum requirement.
Between CLT’s awful gate delays and extensively long taxi times (even in perfect weather) and the lousy employees I try to avoid CLT at all costs.
Yes. Charlotte is in a class by itself - totally predictable. I've taken longer alternate routings just to avoid it. The USAir legacy, and whatever hiring and retention obligations they are working under. Also evident in their air crews on CLT and PHL based.
While American may provide customer service handling or contract that function out, AA's flights from CLT-HSV (and return) are all operated by PSA on CRJ family regional jets.
Alabama. Just sayin
Dumb comment. Have you ever been to Huntsville? Do you know anything about it? It's an extremely diverse city due to the presence of NASA, the Redstone Arsenal and a thriving aerospace industry. There's a reason it is nicknamed "Rocket City U.S.A." Huntsville is FAR from the stereotypical Alabama. I grew up in backwoods Alabama, and later lived in Huntsville for 5 years. Massive difference.
There’s zero chance that AA gave that guy all those accommodations. My guess is the evil white make has a credit card that gets all of those perks as part of travel insurance. He probably bragged, the others didn’t understand it was a credit card thing, and immediately thought it was AA instead.
That's a plausible explanation, but why did AA end up "reach[ing] out to Ms. Suluai-Mahuka to apologize for her experience and provide reimbursement for her hotel-related expenses" if that were the case?
my thought as I read the post by @Biz Traveler while he/she tried to whitespain the incident.
Did you even read the story? The white teacher states that he received the vouchers directly from the AA gate staff. Additionally, trip cancellation/delay insurance from your credit card is retroactive, not proactive. You have to charge everything to your credit card and then submit for reimbursement.
With the reading comprehension and spelling capability you display in that post, I have you at the elementary grade level.
Have you seen the sun lately... you know the thing that comes out in daytime and shines?
You lack reading comprehension. Think before you post.