A woman is suing American Airlines over claims it failed to protect her from an ‘uncontrollably drunk’ passenger who allegedly sexually harassed her.
WHAT HAPPENED?
Gretchen Stelter, 42, was sat in business class on board a flight from Dallas-Fort Worth to Chicago on October 29 when she engaged in small talk with the man next to her.Â
But she said he increasingly got drunk and she grew uncomfortable as he allegedly repeatedly touched and tried to kiss her.
Stelter claimed he also grabbed her buttocks while she was moving to exchange seats with a sympathetic passenger, according to a lawsuit filed in Illinois on May 22.
HER CLAIMS
She has accused American Airlines of not taking action to protect her and alleged employees ‘victim-shamed and blamed’ her.
Stelter was on her way back from Mexico following a trip with friends and was editing a book manuscript before the incident.Â
But the man next to her began chatting to her and she decided to engage in small talk.
‘It was pretty clear right away that he wanted to chat,’ she told the Chicago Tribune. ‘He just kept talking.’
She said they were speaking about ordinary things before he got progressively drunk on the flight.
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MORE ABOUT THE LAWSUIT
Stelter claimed he complimented her appearance and said he wished his girlfriend was more like her.Â
But she continued to rebuff his advances and told him she was ‘happily married.’
There were two flight attendants in the area when he ‘made vile, offensive and harassing comments’ to Stelter, according to the lawsuit.
He allegedly told her he was going to perform a sex act and would ‘wear her down’ and ‘f***’ her.Â
‘Honestly, I was trapped,’ she said. ‘I was in 3A. He was in 3B. My only way to get out of that seat was either to have some sort of help or to clamber over him, giving him full access to parts of my body that I did not feel like giving him access to.’
She added that the man told a flight attendant he was just ‘having fun’ and the employee took ‘no action to protect’ her.
‘He walked away, allowing the assailant to keep the alcohol (that) was left in his glass as well as the bottle of vodka then remaining in plain sight on his tray table,’ the lawsuit claimed.
