now that is Hilarious, the question is, how did that amount to $200,000.00?

Holy shit.

Wow, I don't even know what to think about this one.

I feel for her, and that is gross, but why is this American Airline's fault? The guy is a perv and should be prosecuted but I fail to see why she should be compensated for this.

@Moosehawk: Holy Sperm

I like how this story is to blame the airline staff for letting this person move to this empty seat.

Next week, we will have a story to blame the airline staff for not letting someone's child move to an empty seat next to them after the plane is in the air and it is obvious the seat is empty.

The act was caught - the man was arrested. What more should have happened?

test

That's horrible. I'm just not sure AA is liable, though clearly she's going to get a shit ton of money anyhow.

what an ass, the rulebook clearly states this is not a legitimate way to become part of the mile-high club. disqualified!

I agree most of the blame falls on the perv. But AA can also be blamed because if the flight attendants were doing their jobs (walking the aisles) they would have seen the perv in action, and may have stopped him before the "damage" was done.

wow! She does deserve some compensation as it should not be a policy of 'sleep at your own risk' on a long flight.

She needs to sue the man who did it - not the airline.

Of course, suing the airline could mean more money, so I'm sure that is why she took that route.

i know this is sad, but, at first i was lmao!!! i can't help but wonder if what this woman looks like! j/k.

While this is clearly not AA's fault, I'm still waiting for the there's-one-on-every-topic commenter that attempts to explain why this is HER fault.

yeah the fa should have totally gave the man a comlimentary tissue.

Agreed, AA isn't liable. The guy should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

jeez i need more coffee yall. sorry for the typos.

@coan_net:

The woman began to cry and tried to get the attention of a flight attendant, but was unsuccessful, the suit states.

I think she's going after AA for not giving her attention when she was asking for it. She really should be going after the guy for the money however.

The guy should burn in hell.

What I want to know is how this guy was able to do this without ANYBODY noticing. How is that possible?!?!

@Rectilinear Propagation: TPS.....tiny penis syndrome.

@flyingphotog: Now its their job to randomly walk the aisles and look for pervs? A flight attendants #1 job is to keep you alive, not to ensure you don't get spooged upon.

This woman should have screamed or something. Its not like the guy was gonna pull a knife on her or something. You can't get knives on.... oh wait.

She was obviously too pretty to be flying and should have been denied boarding.

Glad to see that the airlines are starting to bring back the complimentary in-flight items. I'm not sure how many passengers are going to need emergency hair gel, but it's a thoughful gesture.

In all seriousness, that is really gross. I'm not sure if the airline is to blame, but that's for the courts to decide. I'm glad the dude was arrested, though.

@snoop-blog:
That sounds like a good defense on the man's part. He needed a tissue, looked around, there was no flight attendant in sight, and he did the only thing he could do.

200,000.00 Jeez even Elliot Spitzer wouldn't pay that.
She should take it as a compliment.

@Rectilinear Propagation: I think the problem is that the plane was on final approach, thus all the flight attendants were already seated for landing.

And while I'm not blaming the woman at all, I just don't understand why she didn't knock the everliving crap out of him...

@Skrizzy:
" think she's going after AA for not giving her attention when she was asking for it. She really should be going after the guy for the money however."

AA probably has a lot more money that the perpetrator.

"The guy should burn in hell."

I take it you find his actions disturbing.

This incident reminds of a game at Yankee stadium a good while back. I wasn't there, but a friend of mine was. He witnessed a man urinating off the end of the stadium tier, onto the heads of fans seated below. That could ruin one's day as well.

Hmm. Even after the fact and the obvious commotion that got the attention of someone in the row ahead of her didn't get the flight attendants attention. Not to mention they would have seen something if they had been walking the aisles. I see some liability with the airlines. I think she should sue both the airline and the guy who did this. He deserves all the embarrassment and punishment they can heap on him.

The only fault I could possibly find with the woman is that she should have started screaming bloody murder the minute she realized what this guy was doing. But people all have differing ways of dealing with things.

@itsallme: That's why Southwest wouldn't let her fly.

Totally creepy. I can't imagine what I would've done.

It's worth 200,000.

Finally, an Airline offering true luxury services! It's long past time for the in flight massage and complimentary coiff conditioning. Obviously, this customer was not fully informed as to the benefits of the natural, pre-warmed, high protein treatment. Once she fully experiences her soft and silky new doo, she'll be the one dishing the 200k.

UPDATE: the man got away scott free under the first amendment. apparently it was a political demonstration because he had "i like bush" tattooed on his thingy.

@ClayS: ROFL!

Okay, this is totally gross. How did he manage to get it into her hair? Was he sitting down? That's a pretty long, uh, shot.
Sorry.
She should have started screaming bloody murder, and beat the piss out of him. Publicly humiliating these guys is the only remedy.

eeeewwwwwwwwwww!

ps - I'd like to know more details about what the woman did to try to get the attention of the flight crew.... reasonable effort, or what? yes, it sucks, but doesn't seem to be AA's fault.

typical man for ya, only worried about himself.

@homerjay: Actually, that is not their main job. Their main job is to protect and serve the interests of the airline. That job may include keeping the consumer happy as well as informed on safety procedures. They only go over those safety procedures at the beginning of the flight to protect themselves against lawsuits in-case something goes wrong.

Anyway, if you wanted to go along the lines that you claim where "a flight attendant's #1 job is to keep you alive," then the flight attendants should have stopped the man. Bodily fluids are a health risk. Ask any doctor. That is why it was unsanitary if a boy added the same bodily fluid to a open mayonnaise jar in school (referencing to an event last year).

@ExecutorElassus: YES. Goodness yes. Also, I think yelling "THIS PERVERT JUST PUT SEMEN IN MY HAIR!" while beating the piss out of him would have gotten alot more attention than softly crying.

I think a description of what she did to get the flight attendants' attention would be helpful.

As a female who's 'been there, been subjected to that (or similar)", my advice and course of action would be to loudly embarrass the perv with a comment like WHAT THE F*** ARE YOU DOING IN AN UNASSIGNED SEAT MASTURBATING INTO MY HAIR, YOU FILTHY PERVERT?"
That would hopefully alert the rest of the cabin to the issue and recruit support, if the stewardesses choose to ignore requests for assistance.

oops just saw DROWNER's similar rec

I think the airline is liable in that they did not adequately guarantee her safety on the flight. They allowed a man to move into the seat beside her when she was sleeping - when is there a good reason for that? And then of course when she did ask for help they couldn't be bothered.
I remember once I waited half an hour after calling for a flight attendant. When I finally got someone as they were passing down the aisle, they said they'd seen the light but it was on so long they assumed it was on by accident.

In all likelihood, she wants a settlement from AA, who might want to see this story go quickly away. Yes, it strains rational credulity how the airline is at fault, but if you're AA, do you want people remembering this story when they're booking their next flight? Unless she can prove that AA had a duty to watch passengers that closely at all times, especially during initial descent and landing, legally, she doesn't have much of a case.

At the least, she should be able to hit the guy for intentional infliction of emotional distress (IANAL).
If he has any assets worth getting.

@flyingphotog:

I agree -- its about walking the aisle. Granted, it could have happened if the guy was assigned to the seat originally and the attendants were seated for landing. But, as a policy, airlines should not allow someone to switch seats next a passenger who is sleeping. It is a bit creepy.

How is AA not liable? I mean, seriously, they saw him move while she was sleeping, then did nothing as he masturbated right next to her? It's not like it's that easy of an act to hide. That's just ignorance on the part of the AA staff. Yes, they are liable. They have the duty to stop such acts on board an aircraft.

First the airlines are hounded for abusive and restrictive passenger policies, and people piss and moan when flight attendants are "too assertive". Now we have someone who is an unfortunate victim of a sex crime and suddenly we want American Airlines to babysit us?

C'mon, it's not their job. They barely can keep the planes in the air.

@ExecutorElassus:

It transferred to her hair from her hand.

Which I would interpret to mean he used her hand in lieu of a tissue while she was sleeping.

I don't find this at all funny. In the 90's when I was traveling with my two children, who were 9 and 11 at the time, we had a similar incident.

We were on a southwest flight, one of those flying bus flights that made 4 stops before our final destination. The kids and I were sitting in those seats that faced each other, but by Kansas city the flight was full.

This guy gets on the plane with his girlfriend, and a pile of newspapers on his lap. Throughout the flight, he would reach his hand under the newspapers, which would bounce up and down, all the while staring at my 9 year old daughter.

I asked the flight attendant to do something. Her answer was, "Well he isn't exposing himself, and the plane is full so we can't move you."

After we landed, I complained again to the flight attendant, I complained to the pilot. I complained to the people at the Southwest desk. I even wrote a letter to SW complaining of the incident to which they never responded. I have only flown SW once since then, without incident, and only because the tickets were free.

I don't know how I feel about AA being sued, but it seems to me like its the only way they take this kind of thing seriously.

@Thomas Palmer:

Agreed! What he had AIDS and some of the semen dripped down into her eyes/into a small cut on her head/any other porous place on her body, giving her a potentially fatal and incurable disease? Now, I don't think she should hold the Airline responsible, as what flight attendant walks up and down the aisles looking for guys masturbating.... I do think though that she should've been able to get a flight attendant a bit easier.

Talk about a sticky situation.

Holy shit, reminds me of Silence of the Lambs.

Never fly on a plane with Peter North.

what, no pics? seriously though, that's the grossest thing ever and the airline should get sued for not helping. Also, the TSA should be held at fault for not catching perverts as well as terrorists.

that's pretty f'ed up.

She should sue the guy, too!

@Rectilinear Propagation:

Yea, she tried to get the flight attendants attention, but the plane was getting ready to land - so obviously the flight attendants were a little busy. And once they got things done, they were able to call the police and get action taken care of.

I've only taken a few flights myself, but if I remember correctly, landing is one of the busiest times for the flight attendants so if they did not have time to give her 100% of their time during that time, it looks like they did so as soon as possible since the guy was taken into custody by the police.

thank you lady.

way to go lady, sue the airlines for $200,000. now the airlines are going to pass on that little incident to us fliers as a "plane flight crew security fee" for another $75 on the ticket price.

you think you're hurting the people that failed, but really you're hurting all of us. thanks again, lady, for making us all responsible for your bad experience.

@Sparkstalker: Panic attack? A lot of people have a deer in the headlights type reaction when something horrible happens. Kinda like how people will just stare at somebody who is bleeding a lot or having a heart attack.

@meeroom: How about preventing him from committing a crime? I thought flight attendants had unlimited power over passengers, to the point of getting them arrested for playing games that look like phones. You're telling me all of a sudden the flight attendant is powerless to stop this guy, or at least get him in twice the trouble for disregarding a flight attendant's instructions? I don't think so.