A woman filed a lawsuit against American Airlines, saying that a man sexually assaulted her while flying in a red eye from San Francisco to Dallas last year.
California resident Barbara Morgan said shortly after the flight took off and the lights dimmed, the man sitting next to her began rubbing her arms on her in a deliberate attempt to touch her breasts.
She tried to make some distance from the man, Morgan said, but he was not blocked. “He placed his hand on the plaintiff's thighs and slid it towards the vagina and loved his genitals,” the complaint said, adding that the man placed a bag on his lap to hide his erection.
The lawsuit was filed April 24 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, a year after the alleged case, but said defendant Cherian Abraham, who had previously been reported to the airline, was allowed to continue flying. In March, Abraham was arrested by federal agents and charged with abusive sexual contact. Mr. Abraham pleaded not guilty to all charges and is scheduled for trial on August 4th. His attorney could not immediately request comment.
Last month, the FBI reported that the bureau investigated in 2024, 104 cases have risen from 96 in 2023.
“Sexual assaults usually occur on long commercial flights, with offenders being male and sitting right next to victims, tending to be under the influence of alcohol and drugs,” the FBI said in a statement published on its website last month. “They might use blankets to cover the victims, or use darkened cabins to try and hide their activities.”
In her legal complaints against American Airlines and Abraham, Morgan accused the airline of negligence, saying that flight attendants rarely walked the cabin and that they did not respond to her pain signal when she cried twice. When she reported the incident at the arrival gate, she said that American Airlines agents engaged in “crimination of the victims” and asked why she had not taken further action to report the incident while on the flight.
In the lawsuit, Morgan said he feared that if he “frozen” after the incident and made a scene, the man would either retaliate or the flight would be re-routed and angered other passengers.
“The safety of our customers and team members is our number one priority,” an American Airlines spokesperson said in an email. “We take this issue very seriously and are working closely with law enforcement on the investigation.”
Abraham has since been prohibited from flying with airlines.
“The FBI and American Airlines passengers have repeatedly warned the airline that sexual assaults occur on American Airlines flights, and American Airlines has taken those warnings seriously. Instead, passengers have become vulnerable at 30,000 feet.
“This is not just a policy failure, it is a fundamental failure of responsibility.”
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