United Airline Passenger Complained Man Masturbating Next To Her

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United Airlines Crew Made Jokes After Passenger Complained a Man Masturbated Next to Her

By Damien Sharkov On 7/23/18 at 8:51 AM

Chicago photographer is accusing United Airlines staff of making jokes after a fellow passenger appeared to be masturbating next to her.

The incident, which occurred on a flight from London's Heathrow Airport to the United States last month according to Genevieve Pascolla, only came to light recently, after she posted about it on Instagram.

Pascolla posted a clip of the incident and the alleged response from the airline company to her demand for compensation in the aftermath of her flight.

“I woke up and saw him touching himself under a blanket (see attached video),” Pascolla, 26, wrote. “I woke the woman next to me and got out of there to tell a flight attendant. The attendants checked and confirmed that he was masturbating in public.”

The response, according to the distressed traveller, was not satisfactory. Staff did move her and the other woman away from the offending passenger but as far as he was concerned “no one stopped him,” she said. “He was allowed to finish, with a child sitting closely by,” she added.  

The staff’s reaction was allegedly to make light of the situation, Pascolla said. "They then started making jokes about the situation asking, 'What perfume are you wearing?' and excusing him, saying, 'He’s had a bit of wine,’” Pascolla wrote.

Asked about Pascolla’s post, Maddie King, a United Airlines spokesperson, told  BuzzFeed News last week that "inappropriate and offensive conduct like this" is rare on their aircraft, "but we have a protocol to ensure our customers’ safety because it is our top priority.

"That’s why, in this case, our customers were promptly moved to different seats in a different section of the plane and law enforcement officials were summoned in advance to meet the perpetrator when the plane pulled into the gate," the spokesperson said.

Pascolla was ultimately offered "compensation as a goodwill gesture," King said, adding that the airline called her the same day of her journey for a "wellness check."

Pascolla painted a different picture of proceedings, explaining on social media that the timeline of United Airlines’s response was significant. In a post earlier this month, Pascolla complained that the airline had taken “a month and a half to respond to my complaint,” launched after last month’s flight, and refused her compensation.

United Airlines’s offer of a voucher worth half of the price of her ticket came after Pascolla posted about her experience on social media, not after officially complaining to the airline, she told BuzzFeed News.

https://www.newsweek.com/united-airlines-crew-made-jokes-after-passenger-complained-man-masturbated-1036930