A Jewish family from Detroit were left mortified after they got booted from an American Airlines flight when passengers complained about their body odour.
Yossi Adler, his wife and their 19-month-old were trying to catch a flight back home Wednesday after taking a vacation in Florida when they were turfed from the flight.
“All of a sudden, as soon as they took us off, they closed the gate, and then they said, ‘Sorry sir, some people complained you had body odour and we’re not letting you back on,’” Adler told WPLG News.
Making matters worse, the family was told their luggage would be removed from the plane. The luggage never made it off the flight.
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“They have our car seat, our stroller, everything,” Jennie Adler said.
Speaking with Local 10 News on Thursday, the family denied having any stink.
“There’s no body odour that we have,” Alder said as he and his family waited at Miami International Airport for another flight. “There’s nothing wrong with us.”
American Airlines issued a statement confirming the reason why the family was removed from their flight.
“Mr. Adler and his wife were removed from the flight when several passengers complained about their body odour,” the company said. “They have been booked into a hotel for the night and given meal vouchers. They have been rebooked on a flight Thursday.”
Bewildered by the reason, the family said they asked complete strangers in the airport if they thought they stank.
“We stopped several people in the airport, and it’s embarrassing, but we asked them, ‘Do you think we smell? Because we just got kicked off a plane for smelling,’” Alder’s wife said. “And they were like, ‘Oh my God, we’re so embarrassed for you that somebody would do such a thing, no.’”
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Speaking to NBC News in Detroit, the family said they believe they were kicked from the flight because of their religion, not because they smell.
“As I go to the gate…they are all holding their nose, using paper to blow around their nose, you know pretending it smells,” the man said. “That was upsetting, that the man said ‘Oh you Orthodox people don’t take showers,’ that’s what he told me. He thought we don’t take showers for that.
“I’m like ‘That is absurd,’” Alder told NBC News.
As of this writing, American Airlines has not responded to the family’s accusation.