Black Woman Sues Southwest Airlines for Race Discrimination
Plaintiff alleges Southwest mistreated her solely based on the color of her skin
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Dr. Briana Hicks, represented by Public Citizen Litigation Group and Miner, Barnhill & Galland, P.C., filed a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines for race discrimination. Her complaint alleges that a flight attendant berated and subsequently ejected Dr. Hicks from a flight based on the color of her skin.
On November 20, 2024, Dr. Hicks boarded Southwest Flight 952 from Chicago (MDW) to Washington, D.C. (DCA) and took a seat in an exit row. During the exit-row briefing, a white flight attendant singled out Dr. Hicks for having a phone in her hand, although many other exit row passengers were also holding phones or typing on laptops during the briefing. While the flight attendant was publicly castigating Dr. Hicks, a white exit-row passenger spoke up to ask why he was treating the one Black passenger differently.
Dr. Hicks reported her differential treatment to other flight attendants aboard Flight 952. Upon learning of that report, the initial flight attendant who mistreated Dr. Hicks during the exit-row briefing ordered her off the flight.
“Being singled out for mistreatment based on my race was painful enough; enduring that discrimination on top of being publicly removed from a flight and having my entire travel schedule derailed was almost unbearable,” said Dr. Briana Hicks, a clinical pharmacist based in the Chicago area and the plaintiff in the case. “As a loyal Southwest customer and a human being, I am asking Southwest to make this situation right and commit to doing better going forward.”
“The discrimination that Dr. Hicks experienced while flying Southwest was degrading and illegal,” said Lauren Bateman, a Public Citizen Litigation Group attorney representing the plaintiff. “Like many professionals, Dr. Hicks was attempting to travel to a work conference — instead she was publicly humiliated, questioned by law enforcement, and delayed for hours. Southwest should be held accountable for its discrimination against Dr. Hicks and prevented from discriminating against Black passengers in the future.”
“We look forward to presenting Dr. Hicks’ case in court and seeking vindication of her civil rights,” said co-counsel Benjamin Blustein of Miner, Barnhill & Galland, P.C., in Chicago.