your thoughts on in-flight sexual harassment
 

i had the misfortune of being seated next to a very persistent man on a flight from los angeles to hong kong. i tried to ask the flight attendant to help me switch seats but she was unhelpful and even rude.

another friend was on a flight from bangkok when she had a similar experience. the man beside her kept asking her to share his blanket...

what are your thoughts on in-flight sexual harassment?

have you experienced unwanted sexual advances while on a plane?

do airlines have standard procedures/guidelines for dealing with this?

what is the role of the flight attendant in these cases?

pajammy....welcome to FlyerTalk and the TS/S Forum!
Although I personally don’t have any advice to offer, I’m sure others will weigh in on your unfortunate experience.

Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it) it's been a long time since I found myself in such a situation.

I think if it were to happen to me now I would first be very direct with the harassor and tell him in very blunt language to leave me alone, do not talk to me.

If that did not work, I would go to the flight attendant and, as you did, ask to have my seat changed. If she/he were not helpful, I would let her/him know that the airline would be hearing from me about the situation immediately upon landing - and then follow through as soon as you get off the plane.

Can one also ask for the PIC to get involved?

NO seems to work for me . More details would help - was the offender drunk ? Age span here ? As one who grew up before there were all these "laws" and "expectations" we learned to deal with it ourselves - A simple I am not interested , leave me alone seemed to always work if the party was sober. I am not a big believer in expecting others to "fix this stuff"

I once had a man try and share a blanket with me from milan to JFK. He kept offeing me wine. I was upgraded to F on my next let. He was very annoying.

Tell us how life was back then under Roosevelt - Teddy, that is. :p

A year ago, I sat next to a drunk from SFO-HKG. I posted a thread in the UA forum about the experience, asking how I could have better handled the situation. You might find it of interest.

My friend's wife had an issue like this on AA several years ago.

The guy wouldn't stop hassling her. She told him to stop many times, but he was a little tipsy and wouldn't listen. She told the FA and she seated her in F (there were a few empty seats) for the duration of the flight. When they arrived at ORD, the gentleman was met by a few of Chicago's finest.

That was you?!

Just kidding.

The role of the FA is to be the representative of the airline. Her non-action was wrong on three levels:

1) We are in an age where doing the smallest thing on an aircraft will get you attention. Whether it's sitting in the lavatory too long or outing a FAM, you'll get noticed. And if this guy was making a scene, making others uncomfortable, it should have been addressed by the FA.

2) Simple customer service. It doesn't matter if you're a multi-million flier on American or a casual flyer with Southwest, you should have been helped with your situation.

3) Last but not least, simple common decency on a human level.


I hope you write to the appropriate airline. The FA should have done SOMETHING.

Sorry to hear about your experience. These days, I think just standing up and loudly yelling "stay away from me, you pervert!" would probably bring some useful assistance from nearby passengers, if not airline crew.

thanks so much...
 

hey, everyone..

thanks so much for the quick reply and the warm welcome :) i am going to write to the airline (it was cathay pacific) and i'm also planning to write an article on in-flight sexual harassment for the newspaper i work for..

djk7: i thought about screaming at him many times but since i knew i was still going to be stuck next to him for the rest of the flight, i decided not to..

Less02: i agree completely. i was sure that panic was evident in my voice when i spoke to the flight attendant. with her being a woman too, i figured she would understand. but she snapped at me and told me there were no empty seats when there clearly were.

SanDiego1K: thank you so much. the thread is a great help. do you think i can mention your case too in my article? thanks so much...

jan_az: he was way older than me. maybe in his 40s or early 50s. american. huge guy. so huge that he was taking over my space. he started bugging me while lining up to board the plane.. i was horrified when i discovered he was going to be seated next to me. i think he has an asian fetish..

I've offered to give my blanket to people who have said they're cold in the past but I've never offered to share it (except with my other half).

My wife has also had a couple of instances of unwanted attention but never to the point where she felt she needed to have either the man or herself moved to get away. I suppose it happens and, given how aggressively the airline would react if you were sexually harassing an FA, I'm surprised the airlines don't have stated policies on dealing with clients being harassed.

well
 

If memory serves me correctly, there was either a lawsuit or the is one pending on this exact thing. I believe that the FA has to take some kind of action to prevent further escalation of the issue. They have to find you another seat.

This can quicly be regarded as a case of assault. The airline would be obliged to deal with the situation, including while airborne, including restraining the miscreant if necessary.

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