A female passenger came forward to news.com.au earlier this month after she alleges a passenger “cracked” on to her by asking if she had a boyfriend after “rubbing” himself in front of her.
The passenger, who wishes to remain anonymous, was on a flight from Brisbane to Sydney in February. The passenger told news.com.au she complained to cabin crew, but nothing was done. then when she made a formal complaint to the airline they didnt respond to the main issue contained in it.
The passenger, who News has given the fictional name of Linda, moved seats from the aisle to the window after boarding, as her row was empty. Then a passenger in his “20’s with a shaved back head and long ponytail sat in her original seat and started rubbing his genitalia.”
“He sat down, he had his sunglasses on, earphones in, smelled of alcohol, and the entire time, he was rubbing the extent of his genitalia. He did it the entire time, changing hands, rubbing, he was clenching his fist, he was holding his d**k [sic] and rubbing it back and forth. I kept looking thinking, ‘is that actually happening’?”
Linda said she worked up the courage to get the attention of a cabin crew member 10 minutes later. She told Linder the passenger needed to go to the toilet. Linda asked the crew member to ask the man to return to his original seat but she told her she would return later to check on her, which never happened.
The man returned to his seat then tried to get Linda’s attention. When she ignored him, he touched her arm and showed her a message on his phone that said, “I’m sorry about before if that made you feel uncomfortable.” After ignoring the message, he touched her arm for third time before showing her another message on his phone saying, “I think you’re really beautiful, do you have a boyfriend?”
Tigerair passenger ‘rubbed himself and hit on woman during flight’https://t.co/LE96uSdiYX via @MailOnline
— Ladywhitepeace (@ladywhitepeace1) March 15, 2018
Linda tried laughing it off. She also said she never saw the cabin crew member again.
Tiger’s response to an official complaint she made angered Linda. They focused on the odour aspect of the complaint and said she should of contacted a crew member at the time. They told her, “After reading through your feedback, I would like to take this opportunity to offer my sincere apology for any inconvenience caused as a result of this experience. This is truly not what we aspire to with our service delivery. I do understand that [sitting] next to the person who had a smelly odour caused you discomfort. I note that we cannot account for body odour or personal hygiene of fellow passengers however, cabin crew are more than happy to re-accommodate guest into a different seat when requested. Furthermore, it is recommended that if there is any issue on board, our Cabin Crew must have been approached for assistance so this will be resolved right there and then.”
“The fact that somebody on your aircraft was visibly touching himself and making lewd and uncomfortable advances toward me and nobody did anything about it,” Linda said in her complaint to Tigerair.
“I know Tiger cannot be responsible for all the actions of people on their service, but the staff are tasked with being a voice of authority when something like this happens; a duty of care they failed most spectacularly throughout this instance. I do not make these accusations lightly and, frankly feel some kind of embarrassment to have to press on the issue at all. It’s really disappointing and quite frankly scary for people who speak up and voice such a serious complaint to have the flight attendant dismiss it and carrying on with the drinks service. Shame on you and your staff for totally dropping the ball throughout this incident. I’ll be telling everyone I know what kind of service you’re providing and sincerely hope this response sees some changes made to your operations when someone raises such a serious allegation.”
In a statement, Tigerair told News, “The safety, welfare and comfort of our passengers is our top priority. Tigerair has a zero-tolerance policy for inappropriate behaviour of any kind and we are currently reviewing the incident as a matter of priority.”
Source: news.com.au