Woman claims United Airlines forced her to sit next to man she caught masturbating. Then they let the man go

A passenger onboard a United Airlines flight claimed that she was forced to sit next to a man she caught masturbating after staff informed her that there were no other seats on the flight. The woman has accused the airline of mishandling her report as well as ignoring her discomfort.

The incident reportedly occurred on September 3, around 6 a.m. A 25-year-old passenger who departed from Rochester, New York, heading for Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, allegedly noticed that the man next to her was playing with himself and informed staff.

In an interview with NBC (via People), the unnamed woman said that the man appeared to be around 35-40 and was “pretty normal-looking” and “unassuming.” She said that he was wearing hiking pants and a T-shirt. The passenger also claimed that she felt this wasn’t the first time the man had done this: “I just got the sense [he] had done it before … People don’t just do those things at 6 a.m.”

The woman claimed that she immediately alerted United Airlines staff onboard the plane, and she was allowed to stand for an hour on the flight until the plane came in for landing. She said she informed staff that she didn’t want to sit next to the man. “On multiple instances, I said I feel uncomfortable doing that,” but she was allegedly told that there were no other seats on the flight.

United Airlines allegedly let the man go

The woman claimed that she was initially told that she would only have to sit next to the man for five minutes while the plane landed, but it ended up taking longer as they were at the back of the aircraft and had to wait for other passengers to deplane first.

The woman also said that once the plane had landed, the man was allowed to get up and leave without any consequences. When she spoke with a United staff member at the gate, she said they asked, “What am I supposed to do about it?”

She claimed she also filed several complaints with United Airlines, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the FBI, but the responses she received contained “offensive” and “blaming” language. She did confirm that she had received $100 flight credit, but the original cost of the light was reportedly around $400.

United Airlines has since launched an investigation into the matter, with a rep telling People, “We are looking into this report but don’t have anything additional to share at this time.”