A Black first-class passenger on Delta Air Lines has filed a federal lawsuit, claiming racial discrimination after being removed from a flight by a white flight attendant who took issue with the way the woman looked at her. Teresa Hudson Jordan and her daughter were on board when a flight attenda nt allegedly spoke to her as if she were “a dog or a slave,” one witness said. The 53-year-old and her daughter have since sought therapy to “manage the trauma resulting from this incident,” according to the complaint, which was filed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court. Delta Airlines faces lawsuit from first-class passenger kicked off flight after flight attendant complained about eye contact. (Credit: (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) Jordan is seeking undisclosed compensatory and punitive damages, as well as damages for emotional distress, to be determined at trial unless the parties agree to a settlement. She is also requesting an injunction requiring Delta to implement anti-discrimination training for its flight attendants and staff. Ironically, Jordan is a frequent flier with the airline and one of its best customers. As a SkyMiles Platinum Medallion member, Jordan is part of an elite group of Delta’s most loyal travelers, enjoying benefits like priority boarding, complimentary upgrades, and first-class service. But instead of enjoying the perks that come with spending tens of thousands of dollars on qualifying flights, she was met with hostility, publicly humiliated, and removed from Delta Flight 5792 — all for simply making eye contact with a white flight attendant, according to the lawsuit, first reviewed by The Independent. “This case epitomizes the revolting reality that, even in the year 2025, Black Americans continue to endure the indignity of ‘Flying While Black,’ an experience steeped in humiliation and echoing the dehumanizing degradations of the Jim Crow South,” Jordan’s complaint states. Jordan’s attorney Jon Norinsberg told The Independent that, “It’s absolutely outrageous what happened to her. She has multiple eyewitnesses who saw what happened, perfect strangers, who wrote to Delta about it.” Norinsberg said fellow passengers later recounted that the flight attendant was “laughing and joking” with a co-worker after Jordan was removed. The racial considerations surrounding Jordan’s case is “an important component underlying the whole lawsuit,” Norinsberg said. “We all know the expression ‘Driving While Black,’” he said. “This is the equivalent of that, in the context of air travel.” Norinsberg said Jordan isn’t the type to file lawsuits lightly but felt compelled to take action to hold the Delta employee accountable, adding that “she wanted to make sure people understand that to do something like this to somebody will have consequences.” A spokesperson for Delta addressed the matter in an email on Thursday, saying, “While we have no specific comment on this pending litigation, Delta has zero tolerance for discrimination of any form,” according to The Independent. The complaint states that the incident occurred March 27 while Jordan, a Manhattan resident, and her teenage daughter were headed back to New York City from Lexington, Kentucky. According to Norinsberg, they had been visiting family in Lexington and were returning for an important medical appointment at Mount Sinai Hospital. Seated in the fourth row — Jordan in seat 4A and her daughter in seat 4D — they had no idea their trip would take a distressing turn. “After the doors closed and the flight began to taxi to the runway, Ms. Jordan leaned forward to say something to her daughter,” the complaint states. At that moment, as a flight attendant passed by, Jordan “looked up at her and made eye contact, but did not say a word,” according to the complaint. As Jordan sat quietly, the flight attendant suddenly erupted, the complaint states. “Without any provocation whatsoever, Flight Attendant Doe, a Caucasian woman, began screaming at Ms. Jordan, yelling: ‘Don’t look at me like that! Don’t eye me up and down. If you can’t comply with my commands, then I’ll turn this plane around and we can go back to the gate!!’” Jordan remained calm and replied, “I comply.” But the flight attendant allegedly continued her outburst, saying, “You can catch another flight. Do you understand?!!” Jordan initially remained silent, the complaint states. That’s when the flight attendant allegedly escalated, shouting, “That was not a rhetorical question!!” Jordan once again responded, “I comply,” adding, “I’ve already said that and everyone has heard me,” according to the complaint. The flight attendant then retorted, “Thank you!!” in a sharp tone before heading to the back of the cabin, the complaint states. Jordan stayed in her seat for the entire exchange and never raised her voice, the complaint states. It describes her as “stunned” by the flight attendant’s “aggressive, threatening and bullying tone, which felt both violent and demeaning,” while other passengers looked on in disbelief as the verbal attack unfolded. One passenger later wrote to Delta, saying, “I’ve never seen/heard a flight attendant act so aggressively towards a passenger. It was disturbing and unwarranted,” the complaint states. Another wrote that the flight attendant “had treated Ms. Jordan as if she were a ‘dog or a slave.’” The complaint suggests the flight attendant was attempting to provoke Jordan into a physical confrontation, creating an excuse to have her removed from the flight out of sheer spite. “Notwithstanding the outrageous conduct of Flight Attendant Doe, Ms. Jordan never spoke back, as she knew that her daughter had a critical medical appointment in New York that she needed to make, and she did not want to take any chance of missing that appointment,” according to the complaint. Norinsberg said the urgency of making it to the appointment in time “made it all the more necessary to stay disciplined in her response.” What happened next left Jordan in stunned disbelief. According to the complaint, the flight attendant went to the cockpit and lied to the crew, including the captain, claiming Jordan was disruptive and noncompliant. As a result, the pilot turned the plane around to have her removed. A gate agent gruffly ordered Jordan off the plane, and she and her daughter complied, quickly gathering their belongings before being led away, the complaint states. It adds that their removal put her daughter’s doctor’s appointment at risk but does not clarify if they made it there by other means. “Ms. Jordan and her daughter experienced extreme humiliation, embarrassment and shame when being thrown off the plane, as all passengers stared at Ms. Jordan and her daughter as they were being removed,” the complaint states, while noting that four strangers in first-class defended Jordan and protested her removal, insisting that neither Jordan nor her daughter had done anything wrong. They even later submitted written statements to Delta’s CEO and COO, “detailing the egregious and highly improper conduct” the mother and daughter had experienced, according to the lawsuit. Delta has not reached out to Jordan following the incident, despite her complaint alleging the airline’s failure to address the situation. The airline has faced previous controversies involving Black passengers, including forced removals and discriminatory treatment. Jordan continues to suffer the consequences of her experience aboard flight 5792, as outlined in her lawsuit. “As a result of this incident, both Ms. Jordan and her daughter have suffered severe emotional distress, including symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, characterized by nightmares, severe anxiety, and a persistent state of hyper-vigilance,” the complaint states. ‘Don’t Look At Me Like That!’: Black First-Class Passenger Says White Flight Attendant Erupted In Anger Over Eye Contact and Had Her Removed from Plane After Lying to the Captain, Lawsuit Claims ...read more read less