Woman Sexually Assulted by Seatmate; Sues American Airlines

A woman is taking action against American Airlines after she had claimed the company failed to stop another passenger from digitally assaulting her on a flight in 2022. 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 lawsuit claims the victim was groped by an assailant in her seat. The lawsuit was filed on August 20 of this year.

Here's what the report reads:

“Shortly after takeoff, the flight attendant turned off the cabin lights, and Plaintiff closed her eyes to sleep...Plaintiff awoke to find the Perpetrator’s left arm inside her pants and his right hand forcing her hand onto his penis...Plaintiff gathered the courage to push [the] Perpetrator away, at which point he quickly returned to his seat."

The assailant tried to act like the incident never happened, and the victim alerted both her friend and a flight attendant. The woman was later moved to a different seat on the flight and the man was "escorted off the plane". The report noted that the cabin's lights were turned off as the event took place.

Despite authorities getting involved following the incident on the plane, neither the victim nor her attorney Brian Andris knows if the assailant was taken into custody or charged with a sexual assault felony.

According to Andris, the victim looks forward to receiving justice for her suffering and for American Airlines to be held accountable for failing to stop or prevent the assault from happening.

American Airlines Response

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

“We are reviewing the lawsuit and the details of the flight. The safety and comfort of our customers is a top priority for Americans."
 

This is just the latest of a series of incidents involving alleged sexual assault on flights curated by American Airlines. Back in July, a woman accused the airline of "taking no action" after an altercation with her alleged intoxicated assailant on a flight from Mexico to Chicago. 

Also in May of this year, a New York attorney claimed to have been "aggressively touched" and "robbed" after taking Benadryl to fall asleep on a flight from Florida to Pennsylvania while a flight attendant "looked on" and failed to act.

Even the FBI is taking note of a "disturbing rise" in on-flight sexual assault cases. The FBI states that these incidents most often occur when the cabin lights are turned off and the victim is asleep, being awakened by a hand reaching inside the victim's clothing or underwear. 96 cases have been reported in 2023, and the organization also cites that many more have failed to be formally documented.

Like always, every airline should take alleged incidents of sexual assault very seriously. If the sexual assault did happen, the airline would usually settle with the victim out of court for a large sum of money. It comes as a big surprise when it's reported that nobody steps in to help cease the assault. With that in mind, there are always two sides to every story, and the attendants on the flight should certainly be questioned to get to the bottom of what happened on the flight to New Jersey.

What are your thoughts on what supposedly happened on this flight? Is there a major flaw in American Airlines' policies? Should the flight attendants get reprimanded? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.