Facebook Chloe King.
A New York social media manager says American Airlines refused to move her to another seat after a fellow passenger was caught masturbating next to her.
Chloe King penned an emotional essay on Medium.com that was titled, “We’ve Now Reached Creeping Altitude.”
The Massachuetts native was on a flight to Paris when the incident occurred. “What they didn’t do was wake me up and move me to a safe place. What they didn’t do was accommodate my request — after informing me of the assault — to sit anywhere else on the plane for landing,” King wrote, describing how the incident left her crying, feeling ill, and shaking.
When she complained, the airline took weeks to respond and then sent her a generic email about its “disappointing service,” King says.
It’s the latest in a string of stories of airline mistreatment of passengers.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Chloe Says the Airline Refused to Move Her to Another Seat After the Man was Caught Masturbating
Chloe King’s Medium article.
King detailed what she says happened in the lengthy essay on Medium. The incident unfolded on an American Airlines flight to Paris.
“I was the victim of a sexual crime on a recent international American Airlines flight. I woke up right before landing to have a flight attendant call me to the back of the plane and inform me that the man sitting next to me had been masturbating beside me while I slept,” she wrote.
She says that another female passenger had seen the incident happen and asked to be moved, alerting flight attendants, who told her “the French Police had been notified to arrest the man upon landing — they just wanted to let me know.”
2. Chloe Says She Was Forced to Climb Back Over the Man & Remain in Her Seat & Received a Generic Email When She Complained
American Airlines.
Instead of moving her to a “safe place” somewhere else in the aircraft, King says she was forced to sit next to the masturbating man for the remainder of the flight.
“They made me climb back over the sex offender, trapped between him and the window for the rest of the flight. I was shaking and crying and trying not to get sick,” she wrote.
“I’ll never know what exactly happened on that flight, but I do know I’ll never feel completely safe flying again. Add an American Airlines airplane to the long list of places where, as a woman, I will feel anxious and vulnerable,” she said.
Upon landing in Paris, King says she “marched straight to the AA desk to report what had happened and was met with blank stares.” She contacted the AA legal team, and “after weeks with no response, all I received back was a generic email regarding the ‘disappointing service.'”
3. King Wrote on Facebook That ‘We Demand Better Because We Deserve Better’ & Works as a Social Media Manager
Getty
King has written openly about the incident on her Facebook page. According to The New York Post, she “works as social media manager at luxury department store Bergdorf Goodman.”
Her LinkedIn profile says she was “promoted to manage Bergdorf Goodman Press team in June 2015. Work with major print and online publications to support in-store events, developments, new designers, and senior team.” She previously worked for Tibi and previously studied in Paris.
“Thank you TIME Magazine & Motto for taking this far more seriously than American Airlines. Thank you to everyone for sharing their stories of similar experiences – we demand better because we deserve better,” she wrote in one post.
She shared her Medium post with the message, “Friends, please read. I was the victim of a sexual crime on a recent American Airlines flight. Please choose any other airline.”
On Medium, she added, “Disgustingly, I know this is not breaking news: sexual assault is repeatedly forgiven and swept aside in our society. As women, we can’t accept this.”
To American Airlines, she wrote, “American Airlines, you knew what happened was criminal activity, — therefore you had the offender arrested — yet you did nothing to stop the man’s actions or protect my safety in a horrifying situation. You chose to treat the man committing the crime with far more respect than the unconscious woman sitting beside him. As humans, we deserve more than that. So please, choose any other airline.”
4. The Airline Says It Is Reviewing the Incident & Stresses That Police Were Called
American Airlines.
American Airlines released a statement that said the airline is reviewing how it handled “the situation on this flight.”
“American always strives to maintain a safe and comfortable travel experience for all of our customers. We are reviewing how we handled the situation on this flight, and have reached out directly to Ms. King. During the flight, our crew requested that French law enforcement meet the aircraft in Paris,” the airline wrote.
“Upon arrival, French officials interviewed the male passenger regarding the allegations.”
5. Various Airlines Have Faced Public Relations Disasters in Recent Months
Twitter/InstagramDavid Dao
The most notorious recent incident involving an airline came when United Airlines was accused of dragging a doctor, David Dao, off an overbooked airplane. Dao and the airline ended up reaching a settlement.
Other examples of airline mistreatment of passengers have also hit social media.
