NFL Player Sues United Over Inflight Sexual Harassment and Assault

Usually onboard harassment involves a creepy guy and alcohol. This time onboard harassment involved alcohol and a creepy girl. Maybe that only happens, or at least happens most often, when the victim plays in the NFL.

NFL player filed a lawsuit against United Airlines on Wednesday alleging the company failed to properly respond to his reporting of sexual assault and harassment during a Feb. 10 flight from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey.

[Two players] allege four complaints were made against a female passenger sitting in the same row for “unwanted sexual advances” before flight attendants moved her.

Allegedly the woman was “intoxicated and taking prescription pills” and flight attendants only moved her after she “ripped off [the football player’s] face mask, which was being worn to guard against COVID-19, and grabbed his penis.” The players were offered $150 vouchers for the incident.

Were football players wearing COVID-19 face masks on February 10? I began covering it in mid-January, by the end of January U.S. airlines were suspending China flights, so maybe?

(HT: Tommy L.)

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Not commenting on the actual accusation, but plenty of people were wearing various masks on airplanes as early as January in the US (I remember seeing several on a late January flight)

  2. @missmarierose what a base, uncultured, dim witted comment. First, to my knowledge “Karen” is stereotyped for asking for fast food managers, not assaulting others, and second, what a really stupid and offensive meme that can only be celebrated by those of low intellect

    Back on topic, yes I also saw face masks in EWR in late January and early February, worn by all sorts of travelers, so the face mask part of the allegation does not give me pause

  3. @ Gary — The real question is why one would wear a football helmet as a mask on a plane? That is downright weird.

  4. I’m sure many will think this is an outdated view and I admit to being pretty old-school about most things BUT IMHO a man complaining about a woman sexually assaulting him is either gay or a prude.

    Suck it up dude and enjoy the experience!

  5. Flippant comment: That certainly qualifies as a flagrant facemask penalty in the NFL.

    Serious comment: AC’s comment aren’t just “outdated” and “old-school”..they’re sexist and legally ignorant.

  6. @AC I think you’d feel differently if the shoe was on the other foot. Or in this case if the other hand was on your junk. LOL

Comments are closed.