United Airlines Passenger Details Sex Harassment On Plane

BUFFALO, NY —A United Airlines passenger said she was inappropriately touched by an intoxicated man on a recent flight and was “shocked” by the lack of response by the flight crew.

After she was safely off the Newark to Buffalo flight, Katie Campos fumed on Twitter: “Was sexually harassed on @united flight late last night to BUF. 1 attendant was helpful, and man arrested at gate. Shocked by lack of coordinated response by united to ensure passenger safety. Man kept touching me and others until very end. #dobetter #unitedAIRLINES.”

She then detailed the entire experience in a statement released on her Twitter account.

Campos said the man, who was sitting in between her and another woman and was “visibly, highly intoxicated,” almost immediately began touching her inner thigh when she sat down. She said the first time he tried it, she forcefully swatted his hand away and then asked him to stop touching her when he tried again.

The third time, she got out of her seat and asked a flight attendant to sit somewhere else, she wrote.

“I asked her to move my seat and to check in on the other woman in the window seat,” she wrote. “I told her that I overheard him asking to kiss the woman sitting in the window seat, who asked him to stop and to let her sleep.”

The flight attendant did not check on the other passenger for about five minutes, Campos wrote, adding that what he did to the other passenger was the worst part of the ordeal. “This woman was in the window seat of a dark plane traveling (past) midnight. The man was way bigger than her, and he was forcing himself on her.”

The flight crew reseated both Campos and the other passenger the man was trying to kiss, she wrote. But the harassment didn’t stop. Campos wrote the other passenger was reseated right behind the man, who “continued to look back at us and say things.” The man also began to touch Campos’ fiance, who was seated across the aisle.

Campos wrote the flight attendants handled things “inappropriately” because the man was not restrained, the lights were not turned on in the cabin and the flight crew waited for five minutes before checking on the passenger who was being harassed.

In a statement to Patch, United Airlines said: “We have zero tolerance for this type of behavior and our pilot requested that local law enforcement meet the aircraft on arrival in Buffalo, after which authorities removed the customer from the flight. We are conducting our own internal review and will support any investigation by local authorities.”

According to a police report obtained by Patch, the man was cited for disorderly conduct and taken to the airport taxi stand for a ride to his house. When police were questioning him, he told an officer several times that he was trying to go to Buffalo and was surprised when he learned he was already there, the report says.

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