Drunk airline passenger sexually assaults mother and teen daughter

Delta Air Lines is facing a $2 million lawsuit after a drunk passenger allegedly sexually assaulted a woman and her teenage daughter onboard a flight from New York to Athens, Greece.

The complainants have alleged that the flight attendants continued to serve the man drinks despite him being visibly drunk. They said hat the man was served at least 10 drinks.

The incident took place in July 2022 but has only just come to light. According to court documents accessed by Fox Business, the attendants "blatantly ignored" pleas from the plaintiffs. The accused was seated next to the mother-daughter duo and began behaving aggressively when the girl refused to entertain him.

The lawsuit that has been filed in the Eastern District of New York claims that the accused made "obscene gestures" and touched them inappropriately.

It claims that the man put his "clammy fingers" underneath the girl's shirt and tried to upclasp her bra strap. Later, he "began moving his hand" up the inside of the woman's thigh.

The woman asked the attendants to change their seats, but the attendants allegedly claimed that there was nothing they could do. The nightmare ended when a male passenger offered to switch seats with the girl and sat between the drunk man and her mother for the rest of the flight.

The lawsuit further states that the woman and her daughter were offered 5,000 free airline miles and an apology upon landing. It has also accused the employees of failing to notify the authorities about the man's behaviour.

"What happened to them during a flight was not just a nightmare, it was completely preventable," The New York Post quoted their lawyer as saying.

Several similar incidents have been reported over the last few years by different airlines and in different countries.

A similar incident was reported onboard an internal UK easyJet flight from Bristol to Newcastle in 2017. In this case, a British citizen named Joe Scott was fined almost £600 ($800) for urinating over "everything except the loo."

He was in an inebriated state when the incident took place. The aircraft was preparing to land when the man told the cabin crew he was going to be sick, so they allowed him special dispensation to use the facility.

Once inside, he relieved himself all over the sink, floor, and walls of the cubicle, as well as on some items stored within by the flight team as part of the landing procedure. The crew realised what Scott had done and informed the pilot, who asked him to remain on board after landing. But he ignored this instruction and barged past the flight attendants and off the aircraft.

He fell down the steps and landed face-first on the tarmac at Newcastle International Airport before picking himself up and charging into the terminal.

He told Newcastle Magistrates Court he had only started drinking because he had a fear of flying. He later pleaded guilty to being drunk in an aircraft, behaving in a disorderly manner in an aircraft, and failing to obey the lawful command of a pilot. He was fined £575.

In November last year, a drunk man urinated on an elderly female passenger onboard an Air India flight from New York to New Delhi.

The incident came to light after the local media published the woman's letter to the airline's management, asking them to take action against the culprit and the cabin crew. In her letter, she said that the cabin crew failed to take action against the man, and he walked away scot-free after landing in Delhi.

According to local media reports, the man walked up to the woman's seat just after lunch when the lights were turned off. He unzipped his pants and urinated on her. The woman, whose identity has not been revealed, said that the cabin crew did not take appropriate action against the culprit and that they simply gave her a pair of pyjamas and slippers to change into.

The incident was later reported to the police, and the man was arrested for his conduct. He was also banned from flying with the airline for a brief period. His employer, Wells Fargo & Company, an American multinational financial services company, also fired him from his job.