Three black men have filed a federal racial discrimination lawsuit against American Airlines after they were removed from a flight from Phoenix, Arizona to New York over body odour claims earlier this year. 

According to the BBC, the incident occurred on January 5 during a flight from Arizona to New York when staff of the American Airlines ejected the three black men who did not know each other or seated together from the plane.

All the black men in the plane were removed by the airline staff, the BBC reported. 

The three men namely Alvin Jackson, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, and Xavier Veal, said it was during the process of leaving the aircraft they realised all of them were black.

“American Airlines singled us out for being Black, embarrassed us, and humiliated us,” the men said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

In the lawsuit filed by consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, a flight attendant approached the men, who had all flown from Los Angeles without any issue, and requested them to exit the plane, the BBC reported.

The three men who were joined at the flight gate alongside five other people were reportedly told by an airline agent that they were “removed because a white male flight attendant had complained about an unidentified passenger’s body odour”.

Meanwhile, American Airlines has since released a statement, saying, “We take all claims of discrimination very seriously and want our customers to have a positive experience when they choose to fly with us.

“Our teams are currently investigating the matter, as the claims do not reflect our core values.”