A man on a Delta Airline flight from New York to Athens downed over 10 drinks and sexually harassed a mother and her daughter who were seated next to him, Fox Business reported on Saturday.
A $2 million lawsuit has been filed against the airline, according to which, flight attendants on the nearly nine-hour journey out of JFK Airport “blatantly ignored” the pair’s pleas for help — including a demand to stop giving the abuser booze. Staffers also allegedly allowed the drunk passenger to exit the plane without alerting the airlines or the US authorities regarding his behaviour.
“The intoxicated Delta passenger appeared to be getting drunker and drunker as the Delta flight attendants continued serving him alcohol,” the complaint states.
The airline crew, however, extended an apology to the mother and the daughter, along with 5,000 free airline miles. Though Delta has made no specific comments on the incident or actions taken against it, a spokesperson told Fox Business that the company has no tolerance for unlawful or inappropriate behaviour by passengers. “Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and our people.”
Fox News reported that throughout the nine hour flight, the accused had been continuously intoxicated as the flight attendants served him vodka, and then red wine. Despite his aggressive behaviour, which escalated to inappropriate touching, the flight attendants seemingly ignored any pleas of help by the mother and daughter.
The mother’s demands to shift the man to a different seat and cut him off from alcohol went unheard as the cabin crew members said they could do nothing about the situation. Eventually, after the duo were forced to leave their seats as the man’s behaviour worsened, another male passenger offered to switch seats with the daughter.