Los Angeles mom accused of trafficking daughter by Southwest Airlines sues company

Los Angeles resident Mary MacCarthy and her daughter were already grieving and in shock when police stopped them on the jet bridge causeway between their airplane and the exiting gate at Denver International Airport in fall 2021.

MacCarthy’s 46-year-old bother, Michael, had unexpectedly died the day earlier, and the mother and daughter were flying to be with family in Denver when police informed her that the airline contacted law enforcement midflight because an attendant believed MacCarthy, who is white, was illegally trafficking her then-10-year-old daughter, who is biracial and of a darker skin tone.

“I flipped from grieving traveler to protective mom who has just been racially profiled real fast,” said MacCarthy. “I was still very nervous and shaking, but I answered as many questions as I could and did what I could to protect my daughter.”

Mary MacCarthy and her daughter, Moira, are being questioned by Southwest officials and Denver police in the jet bridge causeway of Denver International Airport on Oct. 22, 2021.

(Denver police)

MacCarthy alleges in a lawsuit filed against Southwest Airlines in Colorado last week that an attendant made “a racist assumption” about the mother and daughter, Moira, and never bothered to speak to the pair.

A Southwest spokesperson did not answer questions, instead responding that the company was “not able to comment on pending litigation.”

When they landed, MacCarthy said, Denver police attempted to interview mother and daughter separately, but she refused to be split from her daughter, according to police body-cam video.

As police began their questioning, Moira sobbed throughout the short interrogation.

“We’re both using the same last name; how did it not occur to check the flight manifest?” MacCarthy, who lives in the La Brea neighborhood, said in a recent interview. “I like to talk, so if someone would have asked me about my daughter, I have about a thousand pictures to show and stories to tell.”

Both were let go after about five to eight minutes of questions, she said.

Initially, MacCarthy said, she asked Southwest Airlines only for a “formal apology for racially profiling” and for a refund. The company refunded her flight cost about three weeks later, MacCarthy said.

Yet, she was not pleased with the company’s apology.

At the time, Southwest released a statement to the media, including USA Today, saying it was “disheartened” to hear of the account. Southwest added the company would conduct an internal investigation and “offer our apologies.”

Since then, MacCarthy said, Southwest has “blown off meetings” over the last year and a half as she’s asked to speak with representatives and demanded a “real apology.”

“My daughter and I have been met with profound disrespect, and I’m not going to be satisfied without that apology,” MacCarthy said.

MacCarthy has also upped her request, asking for an acknowledgment of wrongdoing, while requesting that Southwest retrain its employees to not racially discriminate. She is seeking unspecified monetary compensation but said she doesn’t need the money.

“I’m the [vice president] of marketing for a tech company,” she said. “I’m doing quite well and I’m not looking for ‘a payday’ as some have alleged.”

Her attorney, David Lane of Denver-based Killmer, Lane & Newman, said compensation was necessary.

“We want some accountability, and Southwest needs to feel a little bit of the sting,” Lane said.

MacCarthy said she first sought out legal representation after she received a call 10 days after the flight from a human trafficking detective with Denver police.

“They told me they wanted to know everything and I thought everything had been settled,” MacCarthy said.

A spokesperson for Denver police said it would respond to a list of questions via email “as soon as we can.”

MacCarthy said she sought out a therapist for her daughter, who was dealing with the dual trauma of the incident and the death of the beloved uncle, an associate professor of environmental and civil engineering at Mercer University in Macon, Ga.

She said her daughter still won’t speak about the issue and lives with an “underlying anxiety.”

MacCarthy has tried “not to turn paranoid” whenever she travels with her daughter, she said.

The memory of her brother Michael, who she described as “fearless,” has propelled her to speak out about the initial incident and the subsequent lawsuit.

“I’ve been worried, but I know he’d want me to do what’s right for my daughter and I,” MacCarthy said. “He’d be proud of us.”