2023-07-30 19:36:50
A federal lawsuit was filed Tuesday against Delta Air Lines accusing flight attendants of failing to intervene after a passenger, according to the lawsuit, was given at least 10 alcoholic beverages and then assaulted a mother and her 16-year-old daughter.
The plaintiff, who filed the suit in the Eastern District of New York, only identified herself as the teen’s mother. According to the lawsuit, the girl and her mother were traveling to Athens in Greece from New York on a nearly nine-hour flight last year when the incident occurred.
A woman who had been assigned the seat next to her daughter, who was in the middle, switched it with an unidentified man to sit next to her husband, according to the lawsuit. Throughout the lawsuit, the family is referred to by their initials: “NA” refers to the girl and “AA” to her mother.
Before the plane took off, the man allegedly asked the flight attendant for “vodka on the rocks.”
“During the first three hours of the flight, Delta flight attendants served the intoxicated passenger approximately 10 vodkas on the rocks,” the lawsuit states.
The passenger appeared visibly intoxicated, slurring his words and continually trying to get the teen’s attention the more intoxicated he was, according to the lawsuit. When the young woman asked him to stop talking to her, the man became “aggressive” and yelled at her.
He then asked her where she lived, identifying herself as a Connecticut resident, and wanted her address, according to the lawsuit.
“NA was startled by her personal questions, her tone, and her body language and turned away to tell her mother that she was scared,” the lawsuit says. “As NA turned away from her, the intoxicated Delta passenger began to grab NA, putting his hands behind her back.”
The girl’s mother also intervened, begging the man to leave her daughter alone.
They both told the man that the girl was a minor and still in high school, but he walked over and “began to pull and push” on the mother’s arm, according to the lawsuit. The mother spoke to a flight attendant and told her the passenger was “very drunk and was making both her and her 16-year-old daughter feel unsafe by yelling, making obscene gestures and touching her daughter inappropriately.”
According to the lawsuit, the flight attendant simply told him to “be patient” before leaving.
When the man went to the bathroom, the girl’s mother spoke to the flight attendant again and begged the staff to stop serving her alcohol. But upon his return, the man was carrying a glass of red wine with him, according to the lawsuit.
Later, the girl laid her head in her mother’s lap in an effort to ignore the man when he allegedly reached under her shirt and down her back.
“NA froze when she felt the intoxicated Delta passenger’s hand touch her bra strap and move down her body,” the lawsuit states. “NA was shaking and petrified and crying and she finally got the courage to jump out of her seat and out of reach of her.”
The man then put his hand on the mother’s thigh and moved “into her vagina,” according to the lawsuit. The girl and her mother then spoke with the chief flight attendant and the pilot, who, according to the lawsuit, told them there was nothing they could do.
Another passenger saw the mother and daughter crying and offered to switch seats to sit next to the intoxicated passenger after learning of the situation, according to the lawsuit.
Despite the flight attendant telling the family that she had asked for volunteers to change with them, the passenger who offered to change seats told the girl and her mother that he had not been asked or heard any announcements asking for volunteers.
The man was able to leave when the plane landed in Greece and police were not called despite the mother’s request that authorities meet them in Athens, according to the lawsuit.
Delta declined to comment on the litigation, but a spokesperson told NBC News in a statement Sunday that the airline has “zero tolerance for customers who engage in inappropriate or illegal behavior.”
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and our people,” the spokesman said.
The lawsuit, seeking $2 million in damages, accuses Delta of violating New York human rights law by failing to protect them from sexual misconduct. It also alleges negligence on the part of Delta personnel in continuing to serve the passenger despite Delta policy. Federal Aviation Administration about serving intoxicated passengers.
It is article It was originally published in English by Doha madani for our sister network NBCNews.com. For more from NBC News enter here.
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