Lawsuit claims American Airlines supplier diversity program discriminates against white men
A nonprofit organization is suing American Airlines over allegations that the Fort Worth-based airline’s supplier diversity program excludes businesses owned by white men, court documents state.
American Alliance for Equal Rights filed its lawsuit Tuesday, Feb. 11, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas Fort Worth Division.
The plaintiff, which describes itself as an organization “dedicated to ending racial classifications and racial preferences in America,” is bringing suit on behalf of two of its members. These individuals, referred to as Members A and B, want to contract as suppliers with the airline, but “don’t meet American’s racial criteria,” the lawsuit states.
The web page describing American Airlines’ supplier diversity program is no longer available online.
A screenshot of the web page, which is included in the lawsuit, states that companies that qualify as a diverse supplier “must be at least 51% owned, operated and controlled by one of these groups.” The list includes Black, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Native American, women, LGBTQ, those with disabilities, veterans and service-disabled veterans.
“That categorically, and specifically, excludes whites,” the lawsuit states. “So white-owned businesses are banned from the supplier-diversity program if they don’t fall in one of American’s other ‘diversity’ categories.”
The suit mentions that American Airlines has recently removed other references to diversity, equity and inclusion programs from its websites. The plaintiffs quoted from some of those references, writing, “Even in 2025, ‘DEI [is] foundational to the American Airlines culture’ and is ‘embedded into the fabric’ of everything American does.”
Supplier.io, the software company that runs American Airlines’ supplier diversity program, is also listed as a defendant in the lawsuit. When someone applies for the program, Supplier.io rejects applicants who “don’t fit into the right ‘diversity category,’” the suit states.
Members A and B “are being harmed by American’s racially discriminatory program,” the lawsuit claims. Both members applied for the program earlier this year, but couldn’t submit their applications because they don’t meet the racial criteria, according to the suit.
“Members A and B sincerely want to apply for the program and contract with American,” the lawsuit states.
The plaintiffs are asking for a declaratory judgment that American Airlines’ supplier diversity program violates the federal laws regulating contracts and prohibiting discrimination on the basis of color as spelled out in the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1964 respectively.
They are also asking the judge to issue a temporary restraining order barring American Airlines from operating its supplier diversity program and a permanent injunction barring the company “from seeing or considering race or ethnicity when operating the supplier-diversity program.”
American Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday, Feb. 14.
Supplier.io told the Star-Telegram in an emailed statement that the company’s technology “connects businesses with over 10 million suppliers of all types and sizes across the global supply chain.”
“We do not impose any restrictions on supplier registration, set supplier diversity program requirements or determine supplier eligibility for our customers,” company officials said in the statement. “Supplier.io remains committed to enabling suppliers to register in our database and providing customers with the ability to search and connect with suppliers of all attributes and sizes.”
Tuesday’s lawsuit was the first of two lawsuits filed against American Airlines this week. On Thursday, Feb. 13, a woman who said she fainted due to lack of oxygen on a flight last year filed a negligence lawsuit against the Fort Worth-based airline.
American Alliance for Equal Rights currently has around 250 members, according to its lawsuit. In May 2024, the organization challenged a Southwest Airlines travel award program which was geared toward Hispanic students.
