While airplanes, and airports, are often midway points for connecting friends and loved ones on their journey – they sometimes leave individuals isolated and stuck in a sexually exploitive situation. When an individual is sexually harassed or assaulted in-flight, they are trapped in an enclosed environment with limited options for movement. Intimidation that prevents individuals from speaking out, and ill-trained in-flight staff who are not prepared to handle such complaints, can converge to leave individuals suffering in silence. Sexual harassment includes but is not limited to, unwanted sexual advances or attention including physical actions, masturbation, speech, and viewing pornography in-flight. While you have policies on paper about these issues, please improve your training so flight crews are empowered to actually intervene! You can connect with the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (public@ncose.com) for help in revamping these trainings.

The FBI is now reporting that sexual assaults on commercial airline flights are increasing “at an alarming rate.” FBI investigations into midair sexual assaults increased by 66% from 2014 to 2017. Sexual harassment and in-flight pornography viewing are fueling this problem! I'm sure you have policies against these things, but please improve your training so flight crews are more aware of how to step in and protect both themselves and passengers.

According to a study by the Association of Flight Attendants, more than two-thirds of U.S. flight attendants have experienced sexual harassment while doing their job. “More than one-in-three flight attendants say they have experienced verbal sexual harassment from passengers, and nearly one-in-five have experienced physical sexual harassment from passengers, in the last year alone. Despite the prevalence of abuse and the emergence of the #MeToo movement, 68 percent of flight attendants say they saw no efforts by airlines to address workplace sexual harassment over the last year.” Please work with with the National Center on Sexual Exploitation to improve your trainings for flight crews to deal with sexual harassment, and with public pornography use.

There is an industry-wide failure among airlines to proactively train staff to address sexually harassing actions, speech, and pornography-use. Airlines like yours aren't doing enough to protect flight crews and passengers alike from sexual harassment. Sara Nelson, a United Airlines flight attendant and president of the union, told CNN, “In my 22 years as a flight attendant, I have never taken part in a conversation — in training or otherwise — about how to handle sexual harassment or sexual assault.” CNN continued: “While policies exist, Nelson says that if they’re not elevated in airlines’ training, flight attendants are at a loss for what to do when confronting inappropriate — and sometimes criminal — behavior.” Airlines are also chronically ill-prepared to address the growing problem of pornography on airplanes and the ensuing culture of sexual harassment that this fosters. While most airlines have a policy on paper against in-flight pornography use, they are not adequately training their in-flight crews or support staff to ensure they A) are consciously aware the policy exists or B) know how to enforce it. Please improve your training so flight crews are empowered to actually intervene! You can connect with the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (public@ncose.com) for help in revamping these trainings. No one should be subjected to endure a toxic and sexually hostile environment on an airplane.