SAN DIEGO, Dec. 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, a leading national civil rights law firm, today filed a complaint against American Airlines, Inc. and American Airlines Group, Inc. (“American Airlines”), and Coast Flight Training and Management, Inc. (“Coast”) (collectively, “Defendants”) and American Airlines Federal Credit Union, alleging that the Defendants made false and misleading statements to eighteen student pilots (“the Cadets”) and targeted the Cadets, all people of color, to induce them to attend a discriminatory pilot training academy. The Cadets seek $36 million in damages for the alleged unlawful conduct.
The complaint alleges that, throughout the years 2018-2023, Defendants made false and misleading statements to the Cadets and the public about the American Airlines Cadet Academy (“AACA”) at Coast, a flight training program designed to be a fast-tracked pipeline to a pilot career at American Airlines, the world’s largest airline. According to the complaint, Defendants falsely promised that, through the AACA at Coast, the Cadets could and would achieve all the ratings required to become a commercial pilot - within twelve (12) months and at a specified cost that was all-inclusive and would be covered by a single loan. The Cadets allege Defendants further falsely promised that all cadets in the AACA would be flying five days per week, receive an American Airlines pilot as a mentor to guide them through the program, and upon completing the program would receive an interview with American’s wholly owned regional carriers and be “well on [their] way to working at American Airlines.”
The complaint alleges that these statements induced the Cadets to take out massive loans - some with American Airlines’ own federal Credit Union - that Defendants promised would be enough to cover tuition and living expenses for the AACA at Coast in its San Diego, California, Dallas, Texas, and San Marcos, Texas locations. However, as the complaint alleges, the reality at the AACA bore little resemblance to what was advertised: Cadets did not train nearly as frequently as was promised; training aircraft were limited; few received pilot mentors; and ultimately the AACA cost each Cadet much more and took much longer to complete than Defendants claimed. Very few students actually finish the program within the advertised time and budget, the complaint alleges, and none of the Cadets did.
The complaint also alleges that American Airlines created the AACA, in part, to promote diversification of the pilot profession, which is historically overwhelmingly white. This goal would seem laudable but, as the complaint alleges, Defendants and the American Airlines Federal Credit Union engaged in a form of “reverse redlining,” in violation of civil rights law, by predatorily marketing and targeting the faulty program to non-white people whom the Defendants knew had almost no chance of completing the AACA despite their pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into attending.
And once Cadets were at the AACA at Coast, according to the complaint, Defendants systematically discriminated against the Cadets. The complaint alleges that the Defendants treated the Cadets less favorably than white students, including by providing them with fewer training opportunities than their white peers, grading them more harshly, and ultimately railroading many non-white Cadets into a dead-end remedial program that led to their dismissal from the program. Moreover, Coast and American staff, the complaint alleges, made racially derogatory statements about numerous Cadets, calling them, for example, “ghetto,” “dirty,” “aggressive,” “hostile,” “tiny-brain[ed],” and labeling them as “trouble students.” The complaint alleges Defendants fostered a biased, hostile environment that made it impossible for the Cadets to succeed in their flight training - so much so that non-white cadets at the AACA were over three times more likely to be removed or forced to resign from the AACA than white cadets.
“The eighteen former AACA Cadets we represent were ecstatic to fulfill lifelong dreams of becoming pilots and making better lives for themselves and their families. They left steady jobs, attractive scholarships or educational opportunities, and relocated, in some cases, across the country and even the world, to attend this program,” said Saba Bireda, counsel for Plaintiffs. “However, instead, Defendants’ unlawful conduct has saddled them with crippling debt, damaged their self-esteem, and ruined their reputations through a program that failed to deliver on the promises it advertised on slick websites and brochures.”
The case is filed in the Southern District of California. The Cadets are represented by Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight Partners Saba Bireda, Christine Dunn (D.C. Office), and Carolin Guentert (N.Y. Office) as well as Senior Litigation Counsel Cara Van Dorn and Associate Hilary Rosenthal in the San Diego Office.
“As asserted in our filing, Defendants sold the Cadets a bill of goods, claiming the AACA was the opportunity of a lifetime, while knowing only a fraction of participants complete the program and those who do spend far more time and money than advertised. Defendants targeted racial minorities with this predatory scheme, the complaint alleges.” said Cara Van Dorn. Hilary Rosenthal added, “an initiative to assist non-traditional pilot students achieve what only certain groups have historically had access to is a great idea, but not if it is discriminatorily executed, as the complaint alleges. By filing this case today, our firm not only seeks to rectify what the Cadets have endured, but also to make a statement that racial discrimination and bias should not be tolerated.”
The complaint filed today alleges that Defendants violated the California Unfair Competition Law, California False Advertising Law, the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and California and Texas common law against fraud. The complaint also alleges that Defendants violated federal and state civil rights laws including Section 1981, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the California Unruh Civil Rights Act. In addition, the complaint alleges that Defendants and the American Airlines Federal Credit Union violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Finally, the complaint alleges that Coast defamed the Cadets to American Airlines.
About Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, LLP
Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight, LLP is a national public interest class-action litigation law firm with offices in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Palo Alto, San Diego, and Nashville. Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight focuses on employment discrimination, Title IX, wage and hour, whistleblower, criminal/sexual violence, and financial services matters. The firm has recovered over $1 billion for its clients through many verdicts and settlements. The National Law Journal recognized Sanford Heisler Sharp McKnight as 2021 Employment Rights Firm of the Year, 2021 Human Rights Firm of the Year, and 2022 Civil Rights Firm of the Year.
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