US Flier Claims Man Masturbated Next To Her, United Airlines Let Him Leave

A woman in the United States has claimed that a man she was sitting next to on a United Airlines flight started masturbating while staring at her. The 25-year-old paedriatic crisis therapist told NBC News that the encounter took place on a flight from Rochester, New York, to Newark, New Jersey, on September 3 and the crew ignored her concerns, asking her to sit back down next to him. The woman said the man appeared to be aged around 35 to 40 and was "pretty normal looking".

The ordeal began as the flight took off at 6 am, the woman told the outlet, claiming that he started touching himself while looking at her.

She then moved away from the man and reported the incident to the crew, who allowed her to stand during the hour-long flight.

But as it came to land, the crew asked the woman to sit next to the same man because there were no empty seats.

"On multiple instances, I said I feel uncomfortable doing that," the woman told NBC. But she was told she would be seated next to the man for a few more minutes as the plane was about to land.

The ordeal, however, continued longer because they were seated towards the back of the aircraft and the woman had to wait till other passengers got off the plane.

To make the matters worse, United staff failed to alert the authorities or stop the man from leaving, the woman further said.

When she raised her concern, one of the crew members told her "What am I supposed to do about it?" and asked the woman to contact police on her own.

"I just got the sense he had done it before... People don't just do those things at 6am," she told the outlet.

The woman later reported the incident to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the FBI, and United Airlines.

While the FBI and FAA have not commented on the incident, a United Airlines spokesperson said they are investigating the incident.