Canadian journalist Joanna Chiu was on an evening stopover. She had a row to herself and was settling in for a sleep, when she noticed something unsettling in the row behind her.
A man in his 30s was seated next to a teenage girl who had been separated from her family on the flight. “He was obviously delighted,” wrote Ms Chiu on Twitter.
“He started off by asking her about her career plans and laughed when she said she wanted to be a CEO and kept giving her ridiculous advice,” she continued.
“She was friendly, and he took that as a welcome queue to get very familiar and started teasing her and kept saying he wanted to take her out to eat, which she ignored,” wrote Ms Chiu.
Ms Chiu was starting to get uncomfortable, and deliberately stayed awake to monitor the situation.
The man then asked the teenager for a “dirty photo” while leaning in close to her.
Ms Chiu describes turning around and ‘rage whispering’ to the man, who got up to go to the bathroom, without responding to her.
Another woman seated behind the girl had also been listening, she let the teenager know she had a right to change seats.
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“I went to get a flight attendant and informed her of what was going on. They checked other witness accounts and the head of the flight service (a woman) asked the man to move,” she wrote.
“He resisted then started swearing at me and asked to talk to the boss and the head flight attendant said ‘I’m the boss – this is really serious and we could land the plane.'”
The man eventually moved and the teenager wrote up a report with the help of the flight attendants.
Ms Chiu and the other woman in the row behind were thanked for stepping in and helping the situation, and Ms Chiu noted the airline’s strong handling of the harassment.
“It’s sad these experiences are extremely common. All adults need to be on guard and know there are things we can do to intervene even when a crime hadn’t technically been committed yet,” she wrote.
“It’s so disturbing there are predatory people out there who act like they have no idea what they’re doing is wrong.”
She describes two instances from when she was a teenager and similar things occurred – once she was accused by a man of ‘flirting’ on a flight because she was touching the zipper on her jacket. In another instance she was chatting to a fellow flyer and he kissed her without consent.
When the flight landed, the man was pulled aside by security and looked like he was “sweating bullets,” noted Ms Chiu.
Ms Chiu ended the Twitter thread by stating she planned to contact the man’s place of work, to let them know about his behaviour.
Top Comments
I think some men see flights as an opportunity for a captive audience. I flew to Dublin on my own a few years ago as a 34yo woman. A quiet African man, maybe in his 50s, was seated beside me (I was in the window seat). He made brief polite chat. At one point handed me his business card. Not long after that the plane landed. I realised he may have then been taking a sneaky photo of me as his phone turned on, but cannot be 100 per cent sure. He then walked alongside me towards passport control.
I was trying to work out how to lose him when I looked up, and remembered in relief... I would - as usual - be coming in via my UK passport, which meant straight o the EU queue for me. He had to head to the non-EU queue. I had an easy out.
He looked confused as I split off from him, and called out that I'd need to go into the Non-EU queue as an Australian. Thankfully, that was the end of it.
Maybe men who do this think women on their own are vulnerable in unfamiliar territory (we all know the local boys who offer to play 'tour guide' with sex on the brain). But the truth is, if you are reasonably smart, confident or an experienced traveller, it's actually not that different from a dweeb on the bus or train pestering you at our stop as you walk home. Always involve other people if it begins to get uncomfortable. The last thing a creep wants is for others to be alert to the situation and notice what is going on.
I am also as a 30-something woman prepared to go into offensive/ rude/ impolite/ 'bitch' mode if needed - something I'd not have done as a teenager. You don't have to be submissive, or respect them. If you brush over it, creeps take this as encouragement to keep going, that you won't alert others. The applecart is already upset if he's made you uncomfortable. If some man is being a creep you can be an a---hole right back. Just don't be isolated, and make sure you haven't given any of your personal details. In a public place like an airport, where you're anonymous and there's people, staff and security around, defend yourself! I first learned to do it around 21 when I was in Naples on my own and men on the street were leering and making me uncomfortable. But not every girl or woman feels okay to ever be like that.
This was a fantastic intervention because Ms Chiu was not to know how protected this girl actually was.
The thought that there are adults out there who are willing to intervene is extremely encouraging.
The creep in question seemed to be either self-entitled, arrogant & sexist or utterly stupid.
Full marks to the airline staff.