BLACK passengers who were ordered off an American Airlines plane in January have sued the airline, alleging that they were victims of racial discrimination.

Three of the men filed a lawsuit in federal court in New York on Wednesday. They said they were told to leave a plane waiting to take off in Phoenix and noticed five other black men who also had been ordered off the flight.

The three, who did not know each other and had been sitting in different parts of the plane, said an airline employee told them they were removed because a flight attendant had complained about a passenger’s body odour.