Woman intervenes after overhearing man harass teenage girl on a plane
A woman shared how she stepped in after witnessing a teenager being harassed by a much older man on a flight.
Journalist Joanna Chiu was flying alone when she overheard a man “appearing in his late thirties” talking to a teenager in the row behind her.
She said she “couldn’t avoid” listening in when she heard the man getting “very familiar” with his fellow passenger.
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When she heard him asking the teen for a “dirty” photo, she stepped in and got involved, she wrote on Twitter to her nearly 39,000 followers.
Thread about airplane creeps: I’m on a plane from a late-evening stopover from and was very tired and had a row to myself to sleep but couldn’t avoid noticing what was going on in the row behind me.
— Joanna Chiu 趙淇欣 (@joannachiu) March 25, 2019
A man appearing in his late thirties was obviously delighted to be seated next to a teenager separated from the rest of her family. He started off by asking about her career plans and laughed when she said she wanted to be CEO and kept giving her ridiculous advice.
— Joanna Chiu 趙淇欣 (@joannachiu) March 25, 2019
She was friendly and he seemed to take that as a welcome cue to get very familiar and started teasing her and kept saying that he wanted to take her out to eat, which she was ignoring. At this point I had to stay awake in case anything went further than that.
— Joanna Chiu 趙淇欣 (@joannachiu) March 25, 2019
It did, and as soon as he asked for a “dirty” photo while leaning close to her I turned around and rage-whispered exactly what I thought of that and he didn’t say anything back and went off to use the washroom.
— Joanna Chiu 趙淇欣 (@joannachiu) March 25, 2019
In the now-viral thread, Chiu wrote how she sought help from airline staff to have the man moved from his seat.
Another woman seated behind him was listening and monitoring too and while the man was gone she let the teen know that she had the right to change seats and that she was just behind her if she needed any help. I went to get a flight attendant and informed her of what was going on
— Joanna Chiu 趙淇欣 (@joannachiu) March 25, 2019
They checked other witness accounts and the head of the flight service (a woman) asked the man to move. 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.”
— Joanna Chiu 趙淇欣 (@joannachiu) March 25, 2019
He moved. The attendants checked in with the young woman and wrote up a report. They handled the situation well as far as I could tell, and it’s good to know other adult women passengers on the plane were paying attention and taking action while trying not to embarrass the teen.
— Joanna Chiu 趙淇欣 (@joannachiu) March 25, 2019
Despite having managed to make the man move, Chiu voiced her concern at not knowing whether he would be monitored on future flights as a result of this incident.
However, the story ended with the man being stopped by security upon his departure from the plane.
It’s so disturbing there are predatory people out there who act like they have no idea what they’re doing is wrong. It’s unclear if the man is going to be monitored by flight crew the next time he flies.
— Joanna Chiu 趙淇欣 (@joannachiu) March 25, 2019
Just walked off the plane and security was ready to pull him aside to talk to him and he looked like he was sweating bullets.
— Joanna Chiu 趙淇欣 (@joannachiu) March 25, 2019
Chiu tweeted that she didn’t want to name the airline she was flying on, but nevertheless commended the crew for how they “handled the situation so well.”
I don’t want to say name of airline because journalists have to be careful not to make endorsements but just want to say that this Canadian airline crew handled the situation so well. Workplaces, schools, sports teams etc. can take note. They even gave me and other woman a card. pic.twitter.com/6irPimuRZb
— Joanna Chiu 趙淇欣 (@joannachiu) March 25, 2019
While this story is alarming, it isn’t the only example of sexual harassment in the skies or on public transportation.
Last year, a New York-based Reddit user shared how she relied on a stranger to help her after being verbally harassed and followed by a fellow commuter.
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