A story is going viral about an American first class passenger’s lack of a meal, and it has now been viewed at least 10 million times across social media platforms. Was this a case of racism, or just airline incompetence?
Black woman skipped for meal in American first class
A Boston-based influencer recently shared a video on social media, of what happened to her on a flight on May 3, 2025, from Boston (BOS) to Miami (MIA). She first posted the video to TikTok, but it has since also been posted on Instagram, X, and other platforms.
As the story goes, she treated herself to first class, but was disappointed when all first class passengers were served food, except for her. She captions the video with the following:
When u the only black person in first class and the food apparently ran out…. Well thank you American Airlines
She provides the following additional details and comments:
- It wasn’t just that they ran out of her meal choice, but they didn’t offer her any food at all, but rather just offered her drinks
- Her ticket was purchased five days before departure, and she wasn’t sleeping when meal orders were taken
- She didn’t eat anything all day because she “looked forward to this,” thinking she would eat on the plane
- She doesn’t understand how an airline can be missing meals for first class passengers
- She says she didn’t report it or call the airline, because she was baffled, and her “brain couldn’t comprehend that this happened”
Some people are calling on a boycott of American, or suggesting she sue the airline for racism. In a statement, American has shared that “we want all of our customers to have a positive experience during their travels with us,” and “we have reached out to the customer to learn more about their experience.”
Was this racism, bad communication, or what?
Racism is of course real, including in the airline business. For example, American is the airline that kicked all Black men off a plane because one Black passenger reportedly had a body odor issue. The company’s CEO even admitted it. At the same time, American is also the airline that struggles with customer service and delivering a decent product, regardless of the race of a passenger. 😉
What’s my best theory as to what happened? I would assume there was some sort of a catering snafu, and they were short one meal. Her confusion is understandable, because airlines are supposed to load exactly as many meals as there are first class passengers, so there should be one for everyone.
Of course sometimes, mistakes happen. Maybe the catering company didn’t load the correct number of meals. Maybe the flight attendant made a mistake, and dropped one of the meals. Maybe the quality of one of the meals just didn’t look good.
So, why would this particular passenger be chosen to not get the meal? Typically, meal orders are taken front to back, and on top of that, passengers can pre-order meals, so they’re prioritized for meals. She was seated in the last row on the right side, so one explanation would be that she was simply the last person to have her meal order taken, and the other people around her got meals because they pre-ordered them.
The thing that I simply can’t wrap my head around is why there wasn’t any communication surrounding this. Why did the flight attendant not explain the situation to the passenger, and apologize for the lack of a meal, rather than simply pretending that it never happened?
It’s truly bizarre, but we’re talking about American, which often struggles with customer service, so I can’t say I’m surprised. Anyway, that’s my best theory.
Now, is it possible that race or age played into this? I wasn’t there, so I can’t rule it out. It’s possible that (for all the wrong reasons) the flight attendant assumed “this woman doesn’t look like she belongs here, so I just won’t mention the catering issue.” That would be ridiculous, if true, and that would clearly be discrimination.
I can understand people not wanting to make a big deal of something, but in this situation, I think there would’ve been nothing wrong with saying “excuse me, is it possible for me to have a meal as well?” One shouldn’t have to ask, but I think that can be done in a totally non-confrontational way.
Bottom line
A Black woman was traveling in American first class, but unlike her fellow passengers, she wasn’t offered a meal. Catering snafus happen, though the fact that the crew reportedly didn’t in any way address this with her is a problem. Now, I don’t know what the motivation was for her specifically being denied a meal — it could be a function of where she was seated (that logic tracks), or there could be more to it.
What do you make of this American first class incident?
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