Woman files lawsuit against AMR because passenger next to her masturbated while she slept

A 21-year-old Harris County woman filed a $200,000 lawsuit against American Airlines alleging employees on a flight to Los Angeles from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport failed to protect her while she slept from another passenger who masturbated to her and ejaculated in her hair, according to a lawsuit she filed last week in Tarrant County.

The Harris County woman alleges employees knew of the risks associated with failing to “police the passengers to ensure that passengers do not hurt one another,” the suit states.
Airline officials did not return calls seeking comment. In a statement to a Houston television station last year, a spokesman said the company regretted the incident, but the flight crew took appropriate action.

The woman and her lawyer could not be reached for comment. The Star-Telegram does not identify victims of sexual crimes.

Destined for a Spring Break visit with family and friends March 19, the woman flew from Houston to DFW Airport and had settled into her seat for the last leg of flight 2074 to Los Angeles about 11 p.m., the suit states. The woman slept most of the flight, but awoke about 20 minutes before landing when the pilot announced the plane was on descent into Los Angeles. When the woman opened her eyes, she saw that an unknown man had moved into the seat next to her and was staring at her as he masturbated, the suit states.

The woman turned toward the window in embarrassment and in an act of nervousness began to run her fingers through her hair where she noticed “a substantial amount of an extremely sticky substance in her hair,” the suit states.

The woman began to cry and tried to get the attention of a flight attendant, but was unsuccessful, the suit states. Finally a passenger in the row in front of the woman comforted her and verified the semen in her hair, the suit states.

When the plane landed, employee called airport police and the man was arrested.
The suit alleges that the during the investigation, American Airlines employees told police they witnessed the man move from his assigned seat into the row where the woman was sleeping.
The woman is seeking punitive damages and a jury trial.

-- Melissa Vargas

Comments

[Dragonia]

OMG!!! That is just horrible. If safety is a number one priority on flights, when they noticed he had changed seats, they should have confronted him. I hope she gets the damages she is asking for.

[pthirteen]

Like Dragonia says +++ she should get millions !!!. Any time a passemger gets out of their seat they should be tossed off the plane! The F/A should have know which passengers will do this just by looking at them! AA needs to train them better!

[Brad]

Sue the airlines? Ridiculous. People change seats on flights all the time when there are empty seats and they want more room. She should sue the perpetrator, certainly, for his disgusting perverse crime, but sue the airlines because someone moved seats. Great, next thing you'll know we won't be able to move out of that cramped center seat when there are whole rows empty in the back for fear that we all might masturbate on some sleeping person back there. Absurd.

[Nate]

$200K? (though I am actually shocked she didn't sue for more) But really - is it the airline's fault? I had a guy farting up a storm in the seat next to me on my last trip, should I sue the airline for failing to preserve air quality in the cabin?

The guy is clearly deranged and I hope he gets punished severely for doing this to her.

[The User]

How does the airline know who knows who on an airplane? People switch seats all the time on flights.

[stoicOne]

The airlines is not responsible for this. It is another frivolous lawsuit, inflammatory in nature, intended to give someone a free ride. She should sue the individual for damages, if she feels wronged. There should have been criminal charges as well.

[Vaag]

I'm surprised it wasn't on NWA.

[Vaag]

I'm surprised it wasn't on NWA.

[Pat]

I've heard of flying the friendly skies, but this is ridiculous. That guy is a pervert only a mother (maybe) could love.

[Zak]

Yeah, every time a passenger moves seats it's because they want to masturbate on someone. Please. The incident is awful, but how are the 2 flight attendants for the coach cabin supposed to 'police' every passenger at all times?

[Big John]

Her lawyer is hardly shooting for the stars here. I would say about 10 times that amount and take it from there. These flight attendants are oh-so vigilant if someone flips their magazine pages too loudly -- but when some pig masturbates all over a fellow passenger, not so much.

[Eric]

What a creep.

[American Airlines]

Something Special In The Air!

[Dan]

Another over-reaching lawsuit from a money-hungry citizen! Her suit should be against the masturbator, not the airline. It's not a crime to switch seats, many people do it for various reasons. However, if the guy was acting suspicious beforehand, the airline would share liability since it would be reasonable to assume the airline knew of a "potential" risk. Otherwise, sorry sister, go wash your hair and get on with life....and sue the scumbag.

[billy buoy]

200k thats all? She should be going for millions---those lazy, non chalant, rude, pushy Flight Attendants who claim our Safety is their Top Priority should have the whole Group or their Union made to pay the damages that will be rewarded from this lewd act.

Dont buy that "Safety" priority from them any longer...its an excuse to be rude and provide shoddy treatment to paying customers--period.

The U.S. based attendants are the worst, laziest, rudest, loudest bunch in the world. Their unions are among the worst in the World as well---and the joke of the matter is their Unions rarely if ever save their jobs when the crunches come, so why they remain so loyal is beyond me..probably because it protects them to continue with their laziness.

Havent we seen enough lately of this bunch? Like the recent AMR incident of a woman dying of a heart attack on board because their onboard medical equipment including oxygen was depleted. Watching out for whose Safety?..PUhleeze...we've been scammed by this bunch since 9-11. I say no more, they've been found out...

Cant wait for their replies where they threaten me, and continue to make claims of how whiney we all are and they cant help out because they're concerened about Safety. They're concerned about getting to that last row of seats and doing their personal bill paying, reading, homework, union and personal gossip and making under the breath comments about targeted passengers.

Shame on the Whole Lot of Them all

[opa-opa]

I guess that's one way to pass the time on a boring flight...

[redleg]

The airline is blamed but the pervert isn't even mentioned? I guess he didn't have money.

[billy buoy]

200k thats all? She should be going for millions---those lazy, non chalant, rude, pushy Flight Attendants who claim our Safety is their Top Priority should have the whole Group or their Union made to pay the damages that will be rewarded from this lewd act.

Dont buy that "Safety" priority from them any longer...its an excuse to be rude and provide shoddy treatment to paying customers--period.

The U.S. based attendants are the worst, laziest, rudest, loudest bunch in the world. Their unions are among the worst in the World as well---and the joke of the matter is their Unions rarely if ever save their jobs when the crunches come, so why they remain so loyal is beyond me..probably because it protects them to continue with their laziness.

Havent we seen enough lately of this bunch? Like the recent AMR incident of a woman dying of a heart attack on board because their onboard medical equipment including oxygen was depleted. Watching out for whose Safety?..PUhleeze...we've been scammed by this bunch since 9-11. I say no more, they've been found out...

Cant wait for their replies where they threaten me, and continue to make claims of how whiney we all are and they cant help out because they're concerened about Safety. They're concerned about getting to that last row of seats and doing their personal bill paying, reading, homework, union and personal gossip and making under the breath comments about targeted passengers.

Shame on the Whole Lot of Them all

[redleg]

The airline is blamed but the pervert isn't even mentioned? I guess he didn't have money.

[Ken Hansen]

What I don't get is why she holds the airline responsible - obviously this man was stealthy/quiet, as he didn't disturb any of the other passengers around her (like the nice woman in the row in front of her). If someone sitting 24" away couldn't hear/didn't notice anything going on, why is it reasonable to expect a member of the flight crew to discover the incident? The airline had no reason to go on "masturbation patrol" on the plane, as I have honestly never heard of this before (though Commedian David Cross does wonder (in one of his stand-up routines) "why they sell pornography in the airport? I've never seen anyone with porn on the planes I've been on"...

[Al M]

Gives the slogan "Cum fly with me" a completely new meaning.

[Alan Andrews]

"...a spokesman said the company regretted the incident, but the flight crew took appropriate action."

Outside of opening the door and throwing the scumbag out, what would that be, I wonder.

[Mark]

This is total BS, how could anyone not notice? Flight attendants didn't come when she was crying? she's trolling for some lawsuit money.

[Randy]

Typical, some sick sob does some disgusting and illegal thing. the victim, instead of suing the person who committed the crime, sues the place where it happened because the person who committed the crime is not worth millions. What happened to her is disgusting but its not the airlines fault it allows perverts to fly. Shes just out for the money, probably could care less about the guy, she has turned victim hood into greed. Anytime something bad happens to someone these days their first reaction is not punishing the perpetrator, but rather how they can get rich off it.

[Y]

No one else noticed this man masturbating into her hair???? almost unbelievable