Woman claims American Airlines crew did not wake her after man was allegedly masturbating next to her

A U.S. woman claims an American Airlines crew made her sit next to a man who allegedly masturbated next to her as she slept during an international flight in May.

New York City resident Chloe King claims the cabin crew did nothing to protect her after a flight attendant informed the woman that a man had been masturbating next to her while she slept.

“I woke up right before landing to have a flight attendant call me to the back of the plane and inform me that the man sitting next to me had been masturbating beside me while I slept,” King wrote in a July 9 blog post on Medium. “The woman to his other side saw it happen and asked to be moved, and the French police had been notified to arrest the man upon landing — they just wanted to let me know.”

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King says the flight attendants did not accommodate her request to be seated elsewhere for the remainder of the flight to Paris and she was forced to “climb back over the sex offender, trapped between him and the window for the rest of the flight.”

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“I’ll never know what exactly happened on that flight, but I do know I’ll never feel completely safe flying again,” King wrote.

The woman says she contacted the airline’s legal team “and after weeks with no response, all I received back was a generic email regarding the ‘disappointing service.’”

In a statement to Global News, American Airlines said during the flight the cabin crew had asked for French law enforcement to meet the plane at the gate.  French authorities interviewed the male passenger about the alleged incident. The airline noted it has reached out directly to King regarding the incident.

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“American always strives to maintain a safe and comfortable travel experience for all of our customers,” the airline said in the statement. “We are reviewing how we handled the situation on this flight, and have reached out directly to Ms. King.”

King did not respond to Global News’ request for comment.