1y ago

Drunk Delta Passenger Sexually Assaulted Mom and Teen Daughter on 9-Hour 'Nightmare' Flight: Lawsuit

people.com Drunk Delta Passenger Sexually Assaulted Mom and Teen Daughter on 9-Hour 'Nightmare' Flight: Lawsuit

The man verbally and sexually harassed the plaintiffs, a mother and her 16-year-old daughter, on a nine-hour flight from JFK Airport to Athens, Greece last year, according to the Tuesday filing, which accuses the airline of gross negligence.

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After the harassment had escalated from verbal to sexual assault, the mother requested that the flight attendant change their seats, but they allegedly said there was nothing they could do.
A different male passenger volunteered to switch seats with the teen, however, and sat between the man and the mother for the remainder of the trip, according to the filing.
It it sometimes shocking how little it takes to be someone's hero when nobody else seems to care.
- Seriously. I hate that some rando has to step in because the people who are literally there to step in either can’t or won’t.
  When did fucking around on planes stop being followed by finding out? This guy had zero consequences after being so overt about it that a separate third party intervened.
  
  I thought this was the kind of shit that got you duct taped to your chair for 10 hours but I guess not
- Airlines should be required to have at least a row of seats vacant. The current standard of intentionally over booking gives the flight staff very few options to deal with unruly passengers. SOMEONE needs to occupy the seats next to belligerent passengers, because there aren't any other options.
  This is a problem created by airline greed.
- It reminds me of being in a reverse situation. In that instance, I was the teenage girl, stuck between two guys who were drinking. Fortunately, it didn't escalate to this extent, but it definitely made me realize my vulnerability.
- I wish another passenger had volunteered to throw him out of the plane.

10 drinks in 9 hours? Delta would be smart to settle this one quickly.
Meanwhile this dude should be in prison.
- That's actually not that many, assuming they weren't guzzling 10 in the first hour. Depending on height and body weight, a drink an hour wouldn't even put a male's BAC above the legal driving limit in most places in the U.S.
  Drunk or not, they should definitely be catching charges
  
  Drinking on a plane typically hits people harder, I’ve seen estimates that say you essentially double your level of inebriation when drinking while flying
  
  I'd guess he had some before the flight too.

" Delta has not commented on the lawsuit but, in a statement to Fox Business, said that the airline “has zero tolerance for customers who engage in inappropriate or unlawful behavior.”
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and our people,” Delta told the outlet. "
What a joke. I hope they win the case.

I have some entirely speculative guesses about what sorts of stickers adorn that man's vehicle, and what sorts of flags are flying in front of his house.

Delta being Delta. Glad I never flew with them and never will.
- It sucks because I used to like them. Now Delta is in the same rank as United now.
- Because we're Delta Airlines, and life is a fucking nightmare! 🎶
- As someone who flies a lot for both work and travel, Delta is by far the best of the domestic airlines for customer service. Their planes aren't as new as American/United, but they make up for it with better service. Alaska is decent but doesn't fly nearly as many places, and they also give long, annoying "sign up for our credit card" speeches on every flight.
  
  As someone who's flown internationally plenty of times, if this is your best treatment, fuck that.

What I can't imagine it's how can people let that happen? Hot him, hit him hard. Stop him. Yes, I know, lawsuit yadayada, but there are situations that simply transcendent that. Was there nobody who was physically able to hurt him? And if not, like I tell my daughter, go to the guys over there and tell them, directly " you. Help me. That guy is assaulting me."
- Does "people" mean the woman and her daughter? Reads like it. I think you're not considering how scary the average man is, especially when drunk. They're considerably stronger than the average woman and can easily hurt you. And drunk men are the absolute worst because they're usually more aggressive, less reasonable, and less predictable on top of all that. Often one of the biggest concerns is that they'll hurt you worse if you hurt them even the slightest.
  
  No, "people" means other people on the plane.
- This sounds an awful lot like victim blaming, and you're advocating for what here? For random passengers to step in and beat this guy? If the airline attendants couldn't control him, why should passengers need to step in? These women should rely on the random willingness of strangers to protect them? Also from a legal standpoint, other passengers do not owe a duty of care to other passengers. Only the airline has a legal duty to protect their passengers. So these people should absolutely should sue the shit ouf of this airline, because they negligently allowed an unruly passenger to continue harrassing other passengers for an entire flight when they were the only ones with a legal obligation to act.
  
  from a legal standpoint
  Who cares?? Be a decent person and stop sexual assault if you see it.

last time I was on a delta flight they unbelievably had those thick, heavy, foodservice style coffee cups. in a perfect world this wouldn’t have happened, but in a just-slightly-better-than-ours world, this dumb fuck spent most of those 9 hours doctoring a concussion.

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