Three black men have sued American Airlines, alleging that they were ordered off the aircraft after a crew member accused them of having body odour.

According to American television NBCDFW, the eight black men, who did not know each other, boarded Flight 832 at Phoenix Airport to New York JFX in January.

The passengers, who were all seated in the plane, were picked from their different positions and sent out after the white male flight attendant made a complaint about “offensive body odour.”

The report further revealed that after an hour of searching for an alternative flight to their destination, the black men were asked to retake their seats on the aircraft.

The lawsuit claims: “They had to re-board the plane and endure the stares of the largely white passengers who viewed them as the cause of the substantial delay.

“They suffered during the entire flight home, and the entire incident was traumatic, upsetting, scary, humiliating, and degrading.”

One of the black men, Emmanuel Jean Joseph, told newsmen that he “knew that as soon as I got on that plane, a sea of white faces were going to be looking at me and blaming me for their late flight of an hour.”