Napa Valley Wine Train CEO: Kicking Off Women Was '100 Percent Customer Service Fail'

NAPA (CBS13) — The CEO of the Napa Valley Wine Train calls removing members of a book club for being too loud a "100 percent customer service fail."

The removal of the group of predominantly black women from the train sparked a firestorm on social media.

Tony Giaccio is apologizing for the company kicking 11 members of the book club off the train for being disruptive.

"It was 100 percent customer service fail on our part," he said.

Lisa Johnson and her 10 friends ranging from 39 to 85 years old boarded the wine train over the weekend expecting to have a good time.

"We shouldn't have been subjected to being ejected from a train for laughing while we were black, that's pretty much what we firmly believe," she said.

The group was kicked off the train after being warned they were too loud and disturbing others. The story made national headlines.

"If felt like stories I would hear my grandmother talk about and her experiences of not being able to go into places," she said. "I don't think we were loud I think that when you have a group of 11 there's a certain amount of noise that comes with that."

Giaccio agrees. The CEO says his staff was in the wrong.

"We didn't afford them … enough space around them so they wouldn't have interfered with somebody else," he said. "At the same time we didn't provide that space for our individual passengers so that they can have the experience they expected."

He has offered to have up to 50 members of the book club and their friends come back on the train in a reserved car as his personal guests. He says his staff will also undergo additional diversity training.