Woman sues American Airlines after being sexually harassed by her seatmate

A woman is taking action against American Airlines after claiming the company failed to stop another passenger from digitally harassing her on a 2022 flight. Despite police involvement and years of waiting, she is demanding justice for allowing the incident to happen.

What happened

An unnamed woman and her friend boarded a flight from Charlotte, North Carolina to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on August 26, 2022. During an overnight flight, the victim was groped in his seat by an assailant, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed on August 20 of this year.

Here is what the report says:

“Shortly after takeoff, the flight attendant turned off the cabin lights and the plaintiff closed her eyes to sleep… When the plaintiff woke up, she found that the perpetrator's left arm was in her pants and his right hand was forcing her hand onto his penis… The plaintiff gathered the courage to [the] The perpetrator was sent away and then quickly returned to his seat.”

The attacker attempted to pretend the incident never happened, and the victim alerted both her friend and a flight attendant. The woman was later moved to another seat on the flight and the man was “escorted off the aircraft.” The report noted that the cabin lights were off when the incident occurred.

Although authorities were called after the incident on the plane, neither the victim nor her attorney, Brian Andris, know whether the attacker was taken into custody or charged with sexual assault.

According to Andris, the victim hopes that her suffering will be met with justice and that American Airlines will be held accountable for failing to prevent or stop the attack.

Response from American Airlines

An American Airlines representative responded to The Independent via email with the following message:

“We are reviewing the complaint and the details of the flight. The safety and comfort of our customers is American's highest priority.”

This is just the latest in a series of incidents involving sexual assault on American Airlines flights. Back in July, a woman accused the airline of “failing to take action” after an altercation with her allegedly drunken attacker on a flight from Mexico to Chicago.

Also in May of this year, a New York lawyer claimed he was “aggressively touched” and “robbed” after taking Benadryl to help him fall asleep on a flight from Florida to Pennsylvania while a flight attendant “watched” and did not intervene.

Even the FBI is noting a “disturbing increase” in cases of in-flight sexual assault. The FBI states that these incidents most often occur when the cabin lights are off and the victim is sleeping and is then awakened by a hand reaching into the victim's clothing or underwear. In 2023, 96 cases were reported, and the organization also states that many more have not been officially documented.

As always, any airline should take alleged cases of sexual harassment very seriously. If sexual harassment did occur, the airline usually settles with the victim out of court and pays a large sum of money. It is a big surprise when it is reported that no one intervened to stop the harassment. With that in mind, there are always two sides to a story and the flight attendants should definitely be questioned to get to the bottom of what happened on the flight to New Jersey.

What do you think about what allegedly happened on this flight? Is there a major flaw in American Airlines' policies? Should the flight attendants be reprimanded? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.