American Airlines vows to take steps against racial bias
Under pressure from the NAACP, American Airlines is promising changes in the way it trains employees and handles passenger complaints about racially biased treatment. The airline announced the steps Thursday after a meeting between CEO Doug Parker and NAACP President Derrick Johnson. The civil-rights group issued a "travel advisory" in October warning African-Americans they could face discrimination when flying on American. The alert followed several high-profile incidents including one involving an organiser of the Women's March who was booted from a flight after a dispute over her seat. American pledged to hire an outside firm to review its diversity in hiring and promotion, train all 120,000 employees to counteract so-called implicit bias, create a special team to review passengers' discrimination complaints, and improve resolution of employee complaints about bias. On Thursday, Parker said in a note to employees that the criticism has led to conversations with outside groups as well as the airline's own employees "that we may not have otherwise had." Since the start of 2016 through September, American has been the subject of 29 racial-discrimination complaints by passengers, more than any other US carrier although a tiny fraction of the airline's passengers. Paul Argenti, a professor of corporate communication at Dartmouth University who wrote about racism at the Denny's restaurant chain in the 1990s, called American's measures Thursday a good first step but inadequate to significantly change the airline's culture.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2017-12-01/oneworld/american-airlines-vows-to-take-steps-against-racial-bias
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American Airlines vows to take steps against racial bias
Under pressure from the NAACP, American Airlines is promising changes in the way it trains employees and handles passenger complaints about racially biased treatment. The airline announced the steps Thursday after a meeting between CEO Doug Parker and NAACP President Derrick Johnson. The civil-rights group issued a "travel advisory" in October warning African-Americans they could face discrimination when flying on American. The alert followed several high-profile incidents including one involving an organiser of the Women's March who was booted from a flight after a dispute over her seat. American pledged to hire an outside firm to review its diversity in hiring and promotion, train all 120,000 employees to counteract so-called implicit bias, create a special team to review passengers' discrimination complaints, and improve resolution of employee complaints about bias. On Thursday, Parker said in a note to employees that the criticism has led to conversations with outside groups as well as the airline's own employees "that we may not have otherwise had." Since the start of 2016 through September, American has been the subject of 29 racial-discrimination complaints by passengers, more than any other US carrier although a tiny fraction of the airline's passengers. Paul Argenti, a professor of corporate communication at Dartmouth University who wrote about racism at the Denny's restaurant chain in the 1990s, called American's measures Thursday a good first step but inadequate to significantly change the airline's culture.<br/>
