A Frontier Airlines passenger flying from Philadelphia to St. Louis via Orlando showed up at the gate but she had no seat assignment, and the flight was overbooked. Three gate agents announced they were oversold by 10 and – despite offers of vouchers up to $800 – didn’t get any volunteers.
Passengers without seat assignments included: an African American family/group of 8–10, ~5 Hispanic passengers, a White male, a single African American man, an Asian woman traveling with a child accompanied by a White female, and another woman of Indian descent.
The gate agents got seats for an Asian woman and her child and an African American group of “8-10” passengers. However, Kusmin Amarsingh says she didn’t get one, and was told to sit and wait, because she’s obviously Indian.
After the flight department, she says that gate agents became “irate” and ordered people to sit, even half an hour later. She says the lead agent mocked an Indian accent while yelling at the other Indian woman that didn’t make it on.
- Everyone was promised a refund plus $400, she says
- But when she was processed her only option was a refund or rebooking
- And she never received any compensation.
She’s suing for $15 million, because she was out $1,000 and had to travel a day later, missing a family reunion and because she alleges this was the result of racial discrimination rather than Frontier utilizing the cheapest possible contract ground agents. I’d dismiss damages for arriving a day late. She was connecting on Frontier.
The passenger is an attorney and she represented herself. Her case was dismissed without prejudice for failure to state a claim. According to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals,
- Even if she was ‘mocked’ by the gate agents, she didn’t demonstrate that she would have been boarded but-for the discrimination. She lacked an assigned seat, so she was one of the last ones accommodated. And the agents tried to keep a large group together. Furthermore, the agents boarded passengers who weren’t the same race as them (plus, they bumped someone that was).
- Her appellate brief contained seven fabricated case citations. She blamed ChatGPT.
- She was ordered to pay Frontier $1,000 and was ordered referred to her state’s attorney for discipline.
The incident occurred June 13, 2023, but this week she asked the Tenth Circuit to reinstate her case against Frontier, saying they simply misunderstood her and didn’t get that the gate agents mocked her Indian accent and denied her boarding.
More From View from the Wing
Link da fonte
