Linked – Research planned into assaults and violence against women on flights
I’ll be interested to see the results of this study. In my years of heavy-duty travel I had not been aware of any female passengers on flights I had been on being harassed, though I 100% realize that as a man, my experience of air travel didn’t include really thinking about that risk, either.
I have though, definitely seen some cases of crew being harassed by drunk, rude, passengers. Though, again, from my vantage point they almost all handled it and it never grew into anything more that just plain rudeness. (Rudeness that shouldn’t happen, granted, but nothing that caused anyone to need to be removed, for example.)
However, I’ve read enough news reports about business travel to know that this goes on. This goes on way, way too much. This is not just a situation where an occasional passenger goes too far, or drinks too much and is too flirty. There are some serious crimes being committed against women and children on airplanes. I fully support a deep dive look into the causes, and ways to correct this.
In the meantime, stay aware of the people around you on a flight. Look out for each other. No one deserves this kind of treatment just for being a woman traveling alone.
