halls120

UA just can't catch a break.

Women detail sexual assaults and harassment on flights - CNNPolitics

Ms. Campos isn't happy with UA, but the pilot did arrange for the flight to be met by local law enforcement, and the passenger was taken into custody and charged. What else was UA supposed to do?

JVPhoto

MostlyUA

The FA's are not trained well especially on the regional carriers. They are paid low wages and do not have the years of experience dealing with drunks and nasties.

Two Bee

Yep! But NOW it's ALWAYS the airlines fault. I do agree with some of the victims, however. Whenever a pax complains about this sort of harassment, it should be instantly/automatic that the f/a immediately separate the two, preferably moving the victim, and if the flight is full find the biggest dude you can to sit in that seat (... and comp him something nice). I know, I know, it's not any other pax's responsibility, but sometimes volunteer's are necessary. Probably, laying out the airline's for major lawsuit's if something goes wrong, but the f'a's should DO SOMETHING to protect their customers, at least until the plane lands somewhere, and the guy is arrested.

Btw, in the video posted abv, a Delta f/a tells the victim, "Oh, don't worry about that guy, he does this all the time. He's a "Platinum!"

You can't make this stuff up!

As a "Platinum" on UAL, I NEVER got this "Bennie!"

docbert

EWR-BUF also has mainline, not just UX.

1P

I can never understand why the women involved in these incidents don't take stronger action. A really hard slap across the face, if not something more drastic, before going to report the matter to a FA, would seem to be the minimum response. That way, other pax become involved as witnesses. And for those who say that's assault, it can easily be justified as self-defence.

Kannai

I very much understand the sentiment, but listening to what women say about such sentiments explains why it can be so hard to do. Often they do nothing because women are trained from a young age not to make a fuss/not to cause a scene. Women are taught that this is embarrassing for them, so why would they want to draw attention to it? (This makes me wonder how many women don't say anything and just tolerate it because "it's just a short flight" or whatever.) Women are told through the way we often discuss sexual assault and harassment in public discourse that this is something women might have brought on themselves by wearing suggestive clothing (any clothing, really) or just being friendly, which is misread as flirtatious. (Of course not being friendly makes them seen as b*ches.) Women are taught to question their judgment about these things. ... Also, I wonder how many people who ask "why didn't they...?" have been in a similar situation? Even for men, who are taught to be assertive and defend themselves, it might not be so easy. Having not experienced it, I can't say what I would do.

sexykitten7

Maybe we can put those sex offender lists to use!

StuckinITH

An incident like this happened on one of my USAirways flights some years ago. Leaving from PHL to Europe. Intoxicated passenger groped neighbors. After an hour in flight, the plane had to return to PHL because then the US had jurisdiction on the case and could arrest him. About one year later we started getting emails and letters from the Department of Justice about how the case was proceeding.

zitsky

I was the victim of sexual assault by someone I used to work for. Male on male. He thought I wanted it, that I'd be ok with it. I wasn't. Sometimes it happens so fast that you don't know what to do.

Let's stop victim blaming/shaming and show some support for these women.

LTBoston

Because a "really hard slap across the face" could easily result in an "even harder punch in the nose/mouth from someone who is likely bigger, stronger, and drunk enough to not stop at a single punch."

The woman is already being mauled and groped in a public setting and no one is stepping up to help her, and you're suggesting she put herself at even greater risk of injury?

Repooc17

Earlier this year, after hours of pleasant conversations, an intoxicated female passenger next to me got a bit frisky. No intervention from any FA on the flight; one of them even winked at us while the plane was on approach for arrival I concluded in her view, we were together? Regardless, it was an interesting flight for sure.

Two Bee

SO! What happened?

StuckinITH

I was a little bit wrong. My wife and I were contacted by the US Department of Justice 3 months after the incident (not one year like I wrote previously) by mail and by email to let us know that we were victims in the case and that the perpetrator was no longer into custody as he had posted bail about ten days after the event. About one month after we were contacted he did get to court and they gave him five months of community confinement (whatever that is) and he had to pay $53000 of restitution to US Airways. I guess that was to reimburse USAirways for the fuel they had to dump so we could land back in PHL. For anybody who wants to speculate about the cost of the fuel it was an Airbus 330.

We were in Business Class so did not see the events that unfolded but did see the agitation from the two FAMs that were sitting in Business Class. According to my wife they were already agitated before we departed the gate. My wife was in 1A, I was in 4A. In that plane they are window seats alone. Twenty minutes after we boarded, my wife came to talk to me for two minutes and she noticed that they made a gesture to check what she was doing and gave her a dirty look. After we landed back in PHL, while they were deplaning the perpetrator from the back of the plane, one of the FAMs shouted that we were not supposed to look backwards. Since my wife was seated in the front she did look and saw the deplaning. Passenger in 2A who seemed to be a person that did not travel frequently was shaken by the fact that the FAM was shouting at us. He spent the next hour mentioning it.

Loren Pechtel

It's not like she can really get away from him. Striking without disabling could be a bad idea.