"Airline Sued for Alleged Bias in Crew Selection"

Cabin Crew Accuse Discrimination Based on Appearance in Flight Assignments

In a recent lawsuit, United Airlines, a US airline, has been accused of showing a preference for certain qualities and age groups when selecting flight attendants for charter flights that serve professional and college sports teams. 

According to the Los Angeles Times, two flight attendants from United Airlines have filed a lawsuit claiming that they were not chosen to work on charter flights for the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team because the players have a preference for a specific appearance – they seem to prefer flight attendants who are young, white, thin, and mostly have blonde hair and blue eyes.

Dawn Todd, who is 50 years old, and Darby Quezada, who is 44, claim that they were not chosen for these flights, and instead, their younger and thinner female colleagues were favored.

According to the Los Angeles Times, a lawsuit filed on October 25 in Los Angeles County Superior Court discloses that both women have accused United Airlines of harassment and discrimination based on factors such as race, national origin, religion, and age. They claim these issues are related to the selection of flight attendants for United's charter flights for the Dodgers and their interactions with coworkers during those flights.

According to the lawsuit, both Todd and Quezada, who have worked for United Airlines for over 15 years, spent more than a decade trying to become part of the airline's program that staffs flights for the Dodgers. These assignments offer flight attendants higher compensation, up to three times their regular assignments, because of longer flight durations and extra benefits.

The lawsuit asserts, "Plaintiffs had the necessary experience and qualifications, but their requests were dismissed and rejected because Plaintiffs were not white."

The New York Post reported that United Airlines had settled a previous case over similar practices of selecting certain flight attendants. The new lawsuit claims that in 2022, United Airlines made changes by adding white flight attendants to the "dedicated crew," which triggered the new case.