A Black woman who took a flight departing from Charlotte, North Carolina later learned that her bank card statement was charged a baggage fee that contained offensive language and discriminatory practices. According to @TheBlackDetour twitter page, Kyetra Bryant reviewed her bank statement and noticed the shocking fee which read, “African American African Service Charge. Bryant and her boyfriend traveled together on the American Airlines flight. The two of them purchased baggage fees from a self-service kiosk in the Charlotte Douglas International Airport according to revolttv.com.
Bryant and her boyfriend used different debit cards to pay for their luggage fees, but both of them received the exact same “African American African Service Charge.” Bryant has been trying to get an explanation about the discriminary charges since the weekend after Thanksgiving. An American Airlines spokesman explained that the baggage kiosh team didn’t have the capability to alter text when it was processed thru the kiosh. The airline also said they were “disturbed by what we saw and immediately launched an investigation into what occurred.”
Mastercard reportedly agreed that American Airines submitted the baggage fee information correctly. The issue is thought to have originated with Master Card, who is launching its own investigation into the matter. A Mastercard spokesman told the newspaper, “Our bank issuing and payment processing partners are working to understand how the error occurred so this does not happen again.”
According to TheBlackDetour.com, Bryant was sent from “department to department”. Eventually she was informed that the situation was being investigated. She still hasn’t received satisfactory resolution or anwers as to how and why her bank card statement showed the offensive and discriminatory baggage fee. “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.
