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BR Flight Attendant Sexually Harassed by Gentleman with Disability

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Old Jan 21, 2019, 8:48 am
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Last edit by: hayzel7773
Summary of Events
  • Pax boarded last in a wheelchair on January 18th for BR15, LAX-TPE, and he was connecting onto BKK.
  • Because of his size, he requests to be seated in an empty row of 3. They happily move him.
  • 2hr30min into flight, the man requests that the flight attendant make arrangements for him to use the J class bathroom as he cannot fit in the Y one. The flight attendant inquires with the Chief Purser, who gives the ok.
  • 3 flight attendants along with the original FA (She is a deputy purser in charge of the Y cabin) assist him to the restroom so that he can use it. They inform him where the call button is, then shut the door for him.
  • One minute later, he rings the call button and the FA's open the door. There, he says that he cannot pull his underwear down; it's off in the front but on in the back. A flight attendant brings a blanket over to cover him as his genitals are now exposed. He whacks the FA's hand and tells her to take that away and help him pull his underwear down. She agrees, dons plastic gloves, and then pulls the back down for him before leaving the lav.
  • 15 minutes later, the man says that they can come in and help him now. Upon opening the door, they discover he is still sitting on the toilet with his pants at his ankles. He says, "I'm done. You can wipe my butt now". The flight attendant says she cannot do that, and he berates her, saying she agreed to do it previously and now he already went so he needs her to do it or he's just going to sit in the lav. The CP is called in from rest at this point and an all-call is made.
  • After further back and forth with the passenger and conversation between the crew, the CP makes the decision to wipe for him, even though it is made clear they do not do these things. The flight was expected to be extremely turbulent and the FA's decided they could not inconvenience other pax over this situation. CP cannot bear to have her junior crew do it, so she will do it herself while the DP holds the man up. She dons 3 layers of plastic gloves and proceeds to wipe. While wiping, the man moans "hmmmmm, deeper, deeper". After the first wipe, the man claims that he is not clean and demands she wipes again. She wipes a total of three (3) times!
  • After the 3rd wipe, they say they cannot wipe anymore. He then says "You better have wiped me clean".
  • The pax now demands the FA pull his pants up for him, which she does because she has already been traumatized at this point. He is helped back to his seat.
  • Pax goes #2 again later on in the flight, the same scenario plays out again.
Pax History with BR
  • He has flown roughly 20 flights with BR and did not start presenting problems until May 2018 when he allegedly developed health issues.
  • According to the FA's, multiple BIP reports have been made against him throughout this year.
  • In May 2018 on the same flight, he made the same demands but was struck down. Instead, he defecates into his pants in his seat. Pax complains, leading to a discipline hearing for the FA's as to why this happened in this first place. They are let off with warnings.
  • He urinated himself in another instance on a TPE-BKK flight.
  • He demanded a Thai crew member change and clean his diaper on a TPE-BKK flight but was struck down. Instead, he let the diaper overflow into the seat.
  • On the connecting TPE-BKK flight on the 19th, he spilled juice in his crotch area. When he flagged a flight attendant to get her to bring napkins, he also asked her to wipe. She gave him napkins to wipe and said he could do it himself, to which he replied "You can do better than me". The flight attendant wiped for him.
Reports in English

https://nypost.com/2019/01/21/flight-attendant-says-overweight-passenger-forced-her-to-wipe-his-butt/ - New York Post
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6615261/31st-passenger-forces-stewardess-wipe-bottom-long-flight-Los-Angeles-Taiwan.html - Daily Mail
http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201901210016.aspx - Focus Taiwan

EVA's Disability In-Flight Assistance Policy: https://www.evaair.com/en-global/managing-your-trip/special-assistance-and-inquiry/special-assistance/#assistance-during-the-flight

FA/Union News Conference (in Chinese Mandarin): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pt-gYpN1D8

BR Statements

1/21 Post FA News Conference Statement from EVA Air (in Chinese): https://www.evaair.com/zh-tw/about-eva-air/news/travel-news/2019-01-21-pr-publish.html (English summary: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30681664-post60.html)
1/20 Initial statement: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/30677669-post11.html

Other Taiwanese Media Reports (in Chinese)

1/21 https://udn.com/news/story/7315/3605843 - includes clarification from BR management post FA union news conference
1/20 https://udn.com/news/story/7315/3604203 - one of the first reports
1/20 https://tw.appledaily.com/new/realtime/20190120/1504018 - another one of the earlier reports (video is not the actual event and this news paper is like the New York Post of Taiwan and Hong Kong)
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BR Flight Attendant Sexually Harassed by Gentleman with Disability

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Old Jan 21, 2019, 9:14 am
  #61  
 
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Ban list available?

Originally Posted by footastic
What the actual hell. This guy should have been banned and possibly arrested for Sexual Assault.
I won't be surprised if this guy has been banned by other carrier/s. There has been "incident reports" on his inappropriate/bad on-board behavior circling around FA's private chat room in the last few days. Things are coming out of light now.

It would be very interesting to know which airlines have banned him so far. Is there some sort of public record on carriers' ban lists?

Originally Posted by username
I remember in the very early days of their LAX service, some Taiwanese singer got drunk on LAX-TPE, the flight diverted to ANC and they actually got the singer to pay US$50,000 compensation.
FWIW, that actor/singer in question is far more a Hong Kongese than Taiwanese. As a Taiwanese, I personally have always known him being from Hong Kong. I wasn't aware of his Taiwan root at all.
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 9:24 am
  #62  
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Originally Posted by Visconti
Thanks for posting the link.

Article mentioned there were no male FAs. What? As if a Male should be okay with wiping someone's a**? Seriously? Whether one is a Female, Male, Neutral, Genderless, should utterly refuse such a request period.
I think the logic is that if there were male FAs and they guy knows he might get a male FA, he might not pull this stunt at all.
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 9:28 am
  #63  
 
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Originally Posted by username
I think the logic is that if there were male FAs and they guy knows he might get a male FA, he might not pull this stunt at all.
Good point. Astoundingly, this had never occurred to me, since I may have been just so "creeped" out by the entire incident.
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 9:29 am
  #64  
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Now it made the Daily Mail: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...es-Taiwan.html
and NY Post: https://nypost.com/2019/01/21/flight-attendant-says-overweight-passenger-forced-her-to-wipe-his-butt/

Last edited by username; Jan 21, 2019 at 9:35 am
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 9:33 am
  #65  
 
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Originally Posted by username
Looks like BR issued additional statement:
BR's pulling another "you didn't have to do it" card.
This second statement did not mention the previous poop-in-seat and diaper-change-request case which the FA mentioned in the press con. That's quite an insult to the passengers who were on those 2 previous flights where they had to put up with the smell and health harzards.
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 12:38 pm
  #66  
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Can the Mod changes the title of the thread?

This person definitely cannot and should not be called a Gentleman. A Man is an appropriate enough name to use, but not Gentleman. I could think of more appropriate names for this person but I digress.

BR's official reactions not withstanding, the concerns about its PR instead of their crews is sickening.
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 12:52 pm
  #67  
 
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Very difficult

It is very difficult to scoop poop from a huge .... You have to get your hand very deep and then you are bound to get poop on your wrist, arms, your shirt sleeves. Just saying.
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 1:32 pm
  #68  
 
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Personal wiper

I guess the jobs do exist. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiper_(occupation)
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 2:08 pm
  #69  
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I'm grossed out by the idea of the FAs serving meals after wiping.

I would also be concerned that the trauma would render the FAs ineffective in an emergency. The same would apply to the male pilot who helped in one incident.
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 2:47 pm
  #70  
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Originally Posted by username
Looks like BR issued additional statement: https://www.evaair.com/zh-tw/about-e...r-publish.html

...

What they should really do is to publish the English version of the statement so people know they mean business.
"The flight captain, flight attendant and ground staff are willing to assist the passengers with their affirmation and sincere gratitude." [emphasis mine]

Blame Google's translation application, but this could be taken the wrong way if the statement was ever released in English using the same translation.

It's better to put out a statement in your native language then release a poorly translated statement in a foreign language. That's why diplomats who speak fluent English still use their native language and rely on professional translation when conducting diplomacy.
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 3:05 pm
  #71  
 
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Anyone who requests wheelchair assistance would also need to confirm if they can handle themselves independently and if they can't, do they have a caretaker, travel companion to support them when using the lavatory, be it on the ground or in the air

If they don't, then sorry, they shouldn't be fit to fly on a commercial aircraft.
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 4:00 pm
  #72  
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Originally Posted by KUL1971
Anyone who requests wheelchair assistance would also need to confirm if they can handle themselves independently and if they can't, do they have a caretaker, travel companion to support them when using the lavatory, be it on the ground or in the air

If they don't, then sorry, they shouldn't be fit to fly on a commercial aircraft.
How about actually verifying you have a special need? I'm sick and tired of people abusing the special needs and extra-time early boarding. If you don't need a wheelchair and can physical walk without a walker, cane or stick then you shouldn't qualify. Period.
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 4:44 pm
  #73  
 
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Originally Posted by KUL1971
Anyone who requests wheelchair assistance would also need to confirm if they can handle themselves independently and if they can't, do they have a caretaker, travel companion to support them when using the lavatory, be it on the ground or in the air

If they don't, then sorry, they shouldn't be fit to fly on a commercial aircraft.
That is the law right now in North America......Disabilities Act is about "reasonable accommodation" and not being fully dependent on others. Those that cannot be fully independent require caregiver travelling companion..... Prob with BR Management is they somehow did not enforce that rule before boarding and I blame that squarely on the company procedure and station manager.

If this happened midair, it becomes a medical incident and would follow that process (i.e. calling for volunteer doctors, nurses, professional caregivers) to assist and depending on circumstances may require further assistance from ground.
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 4:58 pm
  #74  
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Originally Posted by MSPeconomist
I'm grossed out by the idea of the FAs serving meals after wiping.
Do you expect them to not go number two themselves?
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Old Jan 21, 2019, 4:59 pm
  #75  
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Originally Posted by username
Looks like BR issued additional statement: https://www.evaair.com/zh-tw/about-e...r-publish.html

Essentially:

1 - passenger has 20 BR flights with no irregularity until last year due to health reasons
2 - cabin crew refused last time and passenger got other passengers to help - cabin crew was not disciplined
3 - this time, the guy requested help for lav 3 times - twice in-flight (handled by FAs once + male cockpit crew once) + once during transit at TPE
4 - BR is balancing between protecting employees and humanitarian concerns. Working with US lawyers to decide what to do
5 - If FAs want to sue passenger, BR will assist
6 - BR will train cabin crews to ensure they know they can decline unreasonable requests

What they should really do is to publish the English version of the statement so people know they mean business.
No English statements are made unless the incident occurs in the United States or pertains to the US. Exceptions are made in the event they need to comment to an international organization. All English statements are made from the LAX office (Deputy Spokesperson Eric Lin is based there)
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