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Posted on Mon, Mar. 24, 2008

American Airline 'disrespects' Haitians passengers, Ralph Latorture diplomat says

An incident of alleged mistreatment of passengers with ties to Haiti's president, onboard an American Airlines flight from Port-au-Prince to Miami, has sparked an outcry of discrimination from the nation's top South Florida diplomat.

American Airlines exhibits ''an ongoing pattern of disrespect'' to Haitian customers, according to letter sent as ''an official complaint'' to the carrier this past weekend by Ralph Latortue, the nation's Consul General in Miami.

The incident occurred Friday, onboard American Flight 816, involving 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 her nephew, Sebastien Delatour.

According to the letter, an American flight attendant identified as Ms. B. Benoist ''rudely insisted, while yelling'' that Delatour's 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 came aboard 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.

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,'' Pantin 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 also will review the matter.

Latortue said the incident is not isolated, citing complaints from Haitian passengers his office has received.

Among them: a flight from Haiti to New York, 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.

''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 last May to Palm Beach for 10 hours, when passengers were given only a bag of chips. He also pointed to the ''aggressive way'' American addresses Haitian passengers at the departure gate, and routine cancellations of flights between Haiti and Miami.

Pantín said that as an example of how American is committed to Haiti, it even has a flight service director on all flights to and from Port-au-Prince, to assist Creole speaking customers with forms.

''This is a unique program to this market,'' she said, ``and shows AA's commitment to serve our Haitian customers.