Family of teen girl sues American Airlines over cell phone taped to toilet seat
The family of a teenage girl who found a cell phone taped to a toilet seat after she used a first class restroom is suing Fort Worth-based American Airlines, alleging the company did not take prompt action after the incident was reported to flight attendants and that the girl is emotionally distressed.
The lawsuit was filed Friday morning in U.S. District Court in the Western District of North Carolina. The family is seeking a jury trial, and damage to be determined at trial.
The lawsuit alleges the girl found a cell phone taped to a toilet seat with the camera flash on after she used the restroom on a flight from Charlotte to Boston. The girl and her family are not identified in the lawsuit because she is a minor.
American said in an emailed statement: “We take this matter very seriously and have been fully cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation, as safety and security are our highest priorities.”
According to the lawsuit, the girl, 14, was on a Sept. 2 flight with her parents and younger sister to visit her brother in Boston where he attends college. The girl needed to use the restroom and was first in line in the coach section.
However, a male flight attendant told her to use the restroom in the first class cabin. The girl thought that it was an odd request because she was first in line, but she complied with the flight attendant’s request because she was “taught to respect adults.” She also felt obligated to follow the flight attendant’s instructions.
The girl followed the flight attendant to the first class cabin and the restroom was empty. However, the flight attendant told the girl to wait because he needed to wash his hands before picking up trash in the plane.
The girl thought that was an odd request, according to court documents.
The flight attendant was in the bathroom for about a minute. When he left and the girl went inside, she saw red tape on the toilet seat lid with the words “seat broken” written in black.
When the girl finished using the restroom, she turned around and flushed the toilet and saw a cell phone hidden under the red tape with the camera lens visible, and the flash was on.
The girl was scared, and she took a photo with her phone to show her parents.
According to court documents, the girl came out of the restroom, and the flight attendant went back inside and had his cell phone for over an hour.
The girl went back to her seat and told her mother what happened. The girl’s mother immediately went to the front of the plane and warned other passengers not to use the restroom. She also told the girl’s father, who saw the flight attendants meeting in the back of the plane.
He approached the flight attendants and asked, “What the hell just happened in the first-class bathroom with my daughter?”
According to the lawsuit, the female flight attendants looked shocked.
The father then asked to see the male flight attendant’s phone and said someone filmed his daughter in the restroom.
The lawsuit stated that the male flight attendant’s face “drained of color.” He denied taking the pictures.
But the father confronted him at the front of the plane where he was “furiously tapping” on his phone.
The male flight attendant showed the father photos, but none were of his daughter using the restroom.
But the family alleged that the flight attendants did not inform the pilot about what happened until the male flight attendant was aware that the girl’s parents suspected him as the person who put the cell phone in the first class restroom.
The suit also alleges that the flight attendant wasn’t arrested, and when the family returned to Charlotte, the FBI told the girl’s mother that the flight attendant wasn’t arrested because there were “no incriminating photos” on his phone, but that the law enforcement agency would try to get warrants to search the phone and the flight attendant’s luggage.
Since the flight in September, the girl has had nightmares and does not trust adults, according to the lawsuit.