May 29 (Reuters) - American Airlines ( AAL ) was accused

in a lawsuit on Wednesday of race discrimination for temporarily

removing three Black men from a flight from Phoenix, Arizona, to

New York City.

In a complaint filed in federal court in Brooklyn, the

plaintiffs said they and five other Black men were removed from

the flight in January for about an hour after a white flight

attendant complained about a passenger with offensive body odor.

But none of the men ordered off the plane had an odor, and

had clearly been targeted based on their race because all of

them were Black, the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit. They called

the incident "traumatic, upsetting, scary, humiliating, and

degrading."

The men accused the airline of violating a Civil War-era law

banning race discrimination in contracts. They are seeking

unspecified damages for pain and suffering and punitive damages

for "malicious, willful ... and reckless conduct."

American Airlines ( AAL ) said in a statement it was investigating

the matter, and that the claims did not reflect the company's

values.

"We take all claims of discrimination very seriously and

want our customers to have a positive experience when they

choose to fly with us," the airline said.

Susan Huhta, a lawyer for the three plaintiffs, said in a

statement that the incident was part of a "disturbing history"

of allegations that American discriminates against Black

passengers.

Last month, NPR and other outlets reported that a Black

retired judge from Chicago had filed a complaint with American

saying she was blocked from using a first-class bathroom on a

flight even though she had a first-class ticket.

And in separate incidents last year, track and field star

Sha'Carri Richardson and musician David Ryan Harris, who are

Black, said on social media that they were falsely accused of

wrongdoing by American flight attendants.

Richardson said she was removed from a plane for allegedly

harassing an attendant, and Harris said he was suspected of

child trafficking while traveling with his biracial children.

The airline apologized to Harris and said Richardson was booked

on a different flight.

In 2017, the NAACP urged Black travelers not to fly

American, citing what it said were a series of racially-based

incidents. The civil rights organization withdrew its advisory

after the airline agreed to update its policies and train

employees on implicit bias.