Woman suing American Airlines over masturbating incident

Here's a question: Are airline passengers covered under the mythical Rule 240 if they fall victim to a rogue, in flight masturbator?

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is reporting that a 21-year-old Texas woman has now filed a $200,000 lawsuit against American Airlines for failing to protect her against a pervert.

The woman alleges that while sleeping on a flight from Dallas to Los Angeles last year, a man changed his seat, sat next to her and preceded to "masturbate to her" before ejaculating in her hair.

The woman tried to get the attention of flight attendants, to no avail. A few passengers finally intervened (she woke up to the guy still going at it, the newspaper says) and when the plane landed at LAX he was arrested.

During the investigation that followed, flight attendants said they saw the man change his seat. The woman accuses the flight staff of not properly vetting passengers to keep the cabin free of unsafe situations.

American has apologized to the woman, but she still wants a jury trial and damages.

Filed under: Airlines, Travel Health, Consumer Activism