Kyetra Bryant says after taking an American Airlines flight out of Charlotte, North Carolina, with her boyfriend, she soon noticed an unusual fee on her bank statement: “African American African Service Charge,” reports the Charlotte Observer.
Despite using separate debit cards to pay for their luggage fees, Bryant’s boyfriend received the same statement, she said in a social media post. Bryant said she has been trying to get an explanation, and an apology from the airline, since seeing the charges the weekend after Thanksgiving. She hasn’t had much luck.
After being passed from department to department, she said she was eventually told the incident was being investigated, but she’s never received an answer as to how it happened.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect a response but I’m not stupid and no I don’t think it was a mistake. Never flying with them again,” Bryant said.
Whatever the reason, “there’s really no justification,” she told Fox News 46. “We definitely felt targeted. That’s an instance of racial bias.”
But American Airlines says the company is not to blame for the offensive billing.
When Bryant alerted the airline in mid-December, officials were “disturbed by what we saw and immediately launched an investigation into what occurred,” American Airlines said in a statement.
