SamOF

If I were you, I'd be particularly peeved that Delta's investigation appeared to indicate that two different lounge agents interacted with your nanny, causing confusion, when in fact it was the same person who should have known better. I agree with others that you're not likely to get much more out of Delta, but it seems to be that customer care mishandled this.

Because this happened on the ground, I believe California's public accommodation laws for racial discrimination would apply (someone should please correct me with a citation if I'm wrong about this).

The Department of Fair Housing and Employment also enforces the laws that prohibit discrimination in public accommodations based on, among other things, national origin or primary language spoken. You can file an online complaint here: https://www.dfeh.ca.gov/complaint-pr...e-a-complaint/

At the very least, it might bring you some closure to have someone that isn't a Delta employee put eyes onto what happened here.

MSPeconomist

Is the SkyClub public or private under CA law?

ttuna3

Doesn't sound like the SkyClub people I usually deal with at LAX (both T2 and T3) but I've seen a couple that seem to push things a bit. I'm surprised that there isn't at least one floating around since there's a flight to PVG right after the PVR flights leave. There's also an MU flight that gets in right around then as well. so I'd expect that DL would have a Chinese speaker around for the connecting pax from that one as well.

The replies back from DL are standard issue as noted up thread, DL doesn't want to publicly admit that they've got an issue given the current legal climate. They can't discuss anything about an employee that might get them them sued as well as anything that might get sent to the EEOC or the press.

There are (were) a couple of agents I haven't seen in long time (right after the move across LAX) who were a little less than dedicated than the rest of the staff so you might have gotten "lucky". When the better half (she's Japanese and English isn't her strongest language) and I are traveling either with or out the other we make sure that we keep our phones with us all the time and put them on the airport wifi (or our local SIM) as quickly as possible just in case until we're to where we're getting to, just in case. As btonkid12345 put it up thread there are likely consequences for both the agent and several layers of management as well.

Glad you had a great time except for the SkyClub FUBAR.

Almost forgot , Welcome to FT Sandyglass

garykung

I don't believe it is a matter, as this is preempted by the ADA as an airline service.

Kevin AA

"I don't speak Chinese" is not racist, it's a fact. It is your fault for leaving your non-English speaking nanny all by herself. Take some responsibility for your actions and stop blaming Delta.

Visconti

Admittedly, I've only skimmed the posts here, but we're going to jump from a frontline Airline employee uttering, "I don't speak Chinese" to this? Racism is a serious allegation that should require considerably more than a person being merely dismissive, standoffish or curt.

Davvidd

How did the agent know the nanny was Chinese? She could be Thai or Korean or Vietnamese for all the looks? It is very easy to brush off things like discrimination when you have not faced it. A simple word as this in itself is not racism or discrimination. But taken into context of the whole situation it very well could be. Only the OP and the agent would know what exactly happened. The fact this has happened is not a credit to the airline and they should and probably would investigate this strongly at least internally and make sure that this does not happen again. To my understanding on a personal level having seen or experienced these kind of things, it probably could be classified discrimination based on race or ethnicity if what the OP said is true as to what has happened.

demkr

Stating that one doesn't speak a foreign language is racist now? That's...an interesting stretch.

Sandyglass

To be fair, I recognize certain languages even though I don’t understand it, such as French vs Spanish. My nanny did try to explain in Chinese to the agent but obviously could not be understood.

I do get a a sense that many people here have never experienced discrimination (which is a good thing). It takes experience to realize that one has been discriminated on. Prejudice isn’t black and white (no pun intended), and the person is not going to spell it out for you like “i hate Chinese people” because that’s just asking for trouble. They do subtle things to treat you differently than the rest of the people.

WillBarrett_68

Ah yes, very wise. We don't need any dumb sissy stuff like context, we can just look at four words in a vacuum. If they're factual, then no racism, ez.


it's possible for more than one party to have done something wrong.

goldmedallionflyer

I've experienced it multiple times, and your experience as you've reported here doesn't appear like racial/ethnic discrimination to me.

I refuse to allow haggis inside the walls of my home. It's not because I'm somehow racist or discriminating against people with a Scottish heritage.

MrHockey

I am just amazed that you have someone raising an infant for you that doesn’t speak a lick of english. How did you interview her? How were you able to complete a background check on her? How do you communicate with her regarding daily routines? Just curious as to how you expected her to communicate with the agent if you weren’t around. I would think that you might have gone with her to the restroom, or maybe to the front desk to advise them she was with you and doesn’t speak any english to avoid all of this.

MSPeconomist

I suspect the OP speaks Chinese as well as English. A Chinese-speaking nanny would be a way to ensure that the children learn to speak Chinese.

dalehill

How do you know the motivation for refusing entry to the nanny was race? It could have been. The OP has clearly stated that is her "feeling" but feelings don't make it so. We are very bad at guessing the internal workings of other human beings. We think we're quite good at it, but that is actually not the case.

Often1

We have the facts that OP herself decided were important.

The bottom line is that "I don't speak Chinese" means "I don't speak Chinese". Nothing more.

The remote possibility that an employer would even consider disciplining or otherwise taking action relating to an employee for uttering those words in this context is foolish and never going to happen (unless it is by an employer wanting to pay a huge award to the employee).

It is clear that DL took this seriously, conducted an investigation even though OP's complaint contained no facts beyond a "feeling" and reached its inevitable conclusion.

The rest of the thread is blather.