A Black family alleged they were discriminated against while flying on Flair Airlines.
What was supposed to be an uneventful hour and 25-minute shuttle trip from Vancouver to Calgary turned into a vexing experience for the Black travelers.
A white woman sat in the seat purchased by Busayo Alle’s husband for his wife to travel on flight F8804 and refused to leave when asked.
The Black woman reported the incident to the flight attendant. However, though the airline worker asked the woman to leave the seat, she eventually acquiesced to the resistant traveler.
Instead of removing the woman from the 2A seat, the attendant then asked Busayo to find another seat and threatened to put the mother off the flight.
In the video, shot on April 14, the day of the incident, the attendant can be heard saying to Busayo, “If you [don’t] calm down, we need to get you out of this aircraft.”
The new mother responded, “I can’t be calm after what you just did.”
While Busayo was shocked that the white woman not only told her “no” but flipped the middle finger at her when she asked her to move, she was also outraged at the response of the flight attendant.
“We paid for this flight, and you didn’t help me,” she said to the attendant.
She had purchased her seat so that she could sit next to her mother-in-law and her 12-week-old child.
Now, the woman’s husband has stepped in on social media and is calling for justice. The family was recently relocated to the country (less than a year) and believes this should not be accepted.
In an approximately 9-minute TikTok video titled “Racism in Canada” Adeola Omo Adeyemi expressed his frustration and pointed out how racist the incident was. He said he heard most of the back-and-forth because she had called him on the phone.
@adeolaalle Racism and Discrimination on flair airline from Vancouver to Calgary @Globalnews.ca @CTVNews #racism #racismincanada #discrimination ♬ original sound – Scholars Pivot on YouTube
He said, “My wife and family were discriminated against.”
“[My wife] kept her cool, but to our dismay — the captain said that this plane has to go and we want you to sit on that side of the airplane. We’ve been helping you enough.”
He said, “You’re not helping me. You are asking me to sit in a seat I did not pay for.”
It was then that Busayo, according to her husband, accused the people of racism. Noting, the Flair staff spoke to her in a “very condescending” way, he added, “If a Black person was sitting on that seat, they would not have hesitated to kick them off the flight.”
He posted a snapshot of the woman and placed it in the video, noting that anyone that could take a seat from a nursing mother deserves to have their friends, family, and employer know exactly what type of person they are.
Once the video hit social media, many others had comments and questions for Flair Airlines.
“How did the other passenger get away with telling the flight staff she was not going to move even though she was not assigned to that seat?” one person asked.
Some believed the white woman should have been arrested.
“The woman in the wrong seat should have been arrested as soon as she said ‘No’ to a flight attendant. There is no defending why this did not happen,” a user named Mark commented. A profile named Mike said she ought to be placed on the “No Fly List” also.
“Imagine telling her to calm down when she was calm. Talk about corporate racist gaslighting,” @PapiGra tweeted.
One other person tweeted, “Please sue the airline, that’s the only way this discrimination will eventually stop, most especially for the sake of our coming generations. She had her seat, why take up a Black person’s seat and think you can bully your way out of it?”
A spokesperson from Flair Airlines submitted a statement regarding the Canadian incident.
“Flair Airlines staff did ask the passenger in 2A to move to her assigned seat, but she refused multiple times. Unfortunately, this caused the situation to escalate,” the representative said.
The airlines said they believe the attendant did try and de-escalate the incident.
“The resolution taken for the flight was to seat the passenger in the window seat on the other side of the aircraft — the same row and seat, just on the other side of the plane,” the spokesperson for Flair explained.
The representative said they spoke to Busayo’s wife directly to hear her account of what happened. After hearing her version, the company offered her its “sincerest apologies for any distress and to discuss ways the airline can remedy her concerns.”
A full refund for the cost of the flight and any extras purchased for both seats has been issued to Busayo’s credit card, according to the airline.
However, money is not an issue for the family.
“Injustice happened, and they should have acted better. I want a formal apology,” Busayo said, adding that they want the airlines to learn “how to treat everybody equally and fairly.”
Security should have been called to remove the person who refused to go to her own seat.
Hope no Black people gives any business to this racist airline and hopefully this lady sues the airline and the flight attendant. Shame on them.
Bully white woman who stole the black woman’s rightful airplane seat should expect KARMA in the near future.
This is an issue of right and wrong. The person taking a seat not assigned to her is wrong and should have been removed by the flight crew. What happened is completely unacceptable. Shame on the crew for giving in to the seat stealing bully. Airlines make us pick our seats at the time of booking. The seat number is on the ticket. That should’ve been the end to this.
This is an incredible act of a probably drunk white stupid caw, is unbelievable how entitled this woman is and the other horror is the way the flight attendants behave, a woman with a baby and another woman stilling her seat, completely abusive! Sue the airline!!
This is racism by the Spirit Airlines! The white woman who took the seat paid for by the black family should have been removed by the flight attendant and when she refused to vacate the seat to the rightful owner then security should have been called and the white woman should have been forcefully removed from the seat that was rightfully purchased by the black man for his black wife!!! Shame on Spirit Airlines and the flight attendant for their inappropriate behavior! I would boycott the Airlines and the black family should sue both the airline and its flight attendants!!!
Yes this was a racist moment. I say sue all parties involved find this lady and make sure her boss and everyone sees this video. No the flight attendant didn’t do her job or the captain of the flight. For some reason they think that they handle this correctly. Get a LAWYER FAST
I TOTALLY AGREE THAT THE WHITE WOMAN ARSEHOLE WAS BLATANTLY WRONG & SHEEEE SHOULD HAVE BEEN REMOVED FROM THE PLANE !!! I FREAKIN’ HATE SELF-ENTITLED BUTTHOLE PEOPLE OF ANY DAMNED COLOR
!!!!!
Please fire the entire airline crew; flight attendants, captain, etc. Victims should sue the airline and crew individually. Some of these airlines mistreat black doctors and nurses when their are emergencies on board, I have read many times. Shame Sad
That white woman should’ve been put off the plane and been put on the no fly list. Everyone is assigned a seat and thats where you are to sit and those seats are assigned for a reason, and it a good reason cause if the plane crashes they will be able to see who had the assigned seat. That white woman disgrace herself by acting like a intitled child she should’ve got up and went to her assigned seat. I truly hope the black family sue the airlines.
This is bullshit and white people have it coming to them for all the hateful evil disrespectful acts of hate and violence they continue to spew. A race war is around the corner and if all the other races of people got together to attack white people, they would be killed and threatened like they do all of us on a daily basis. You leave is no choice because we’re now coming after you. United States is very racist and we’re sick of it !! Racism globally will be met with force! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!
The row they wanted to move the young mother was also already occupied and if you look at the video they had to move them to another seat as well…all this drama for one white woman that should have been kicked off the plan. And I didn’t hear any dexsilating talk from the staff.. I heard them threaten the young mother..