A 25-year-old female plane passenger claimed United Airlines staff forced her to sit next to a man who was allegedly masturbating on a flight from New York to New Jersey
A woman has claimed she was forced to sit next to a man who was masturbating on a flight, accusing airline staff of letting the passenger walk off the plane with no consequences.
A 25-year-old woman claimed United Airlines staff said there were no other seats available for her after she reported that the man was pleasuring himself in the seat next to her.
“I just got the sense [he] had done it before… people don’t just do those things at 6am,” she told NBC. The alleged incident happened on a flight from Rochester in New York to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. The woman said the man looked to be around 35 to 40 and described him as “pretty normal looking” and “unassuming”. He was dressed in hiking pants and a T-shirt.
The passenger said she was allowed to stand up for around an hour after she alerted flight crew to the man. However, upon landing she said she was forced to sit down next to him again because there were no other seats.
The woman, a paediatric crisis therapist, claimed she told staff she was not comfortable sitting next to the man. She said: “On multiple instances, I said I feel uncomfortable doing that.”
Staff reportedly told the woman that she would only have to sit next to him for around five minutes while the plane landed, but this didn’t include time for disembarking. The woman claimed the man was able to walk free without facing any consequences.
The woman said when she raised her concerns with a worker at the gate, they replied: “What am I supposed to do about it?” She said she has filed complaints with United Airlines, the Federal Aviation Administration and called the FBI.
United representatives got in touch with her, reportedly saying: “I can imagine how upsetting and uncomfortable it must have been to experience behaviour from another passenger that caused you concern, particularly while seated in a location where you felt concerned.”
The woman went on: “I DID remove myself and ask for help. Additionally, framing public masturbation as ‘behaviour that caused me concern’ implies that what occurred could somehow be perceived as acceptable. It is the first time I’ve been purposely trapped by people who were supposed to be helping me.”
She said United had given her a $100 flight credit but that her original trip had cost around $400.
United Airlines has launched an investigation into the incident. An airline rep told People: “We are looking into this report but don’t have anything additional to share at this time.”
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