The lawsuit, which was filed on Wednesday, claims that the three passengers and five other black men were temporarily removed from an American Airlines aircraft in January.
The plaintiffs claimed that a flight attendant had complained about a passenger’s body odor, prompting them to be told to exit a plane that was ready to take off in Phoenix.
The men claimed it seemed like their race was the only reason they were being targeted.
They were seated in opposite sections of the aircraft and did not know one another when the incident occurred.
According to the lawsuit, American Airlines offered to transfer them to a different aircraft, but they were let to board again once it became apparent that there were no more flights to New York that evening.
After being removed, it took over an hour to reboard.
“If American Airlines received a complaint about a black male passenger with offensive body odour but could not verify the complaint, the solution should not have been to eject eight separate black men from the plane,” said Susan Huhta, the lawyer for the three men.
