<p>The white zone is for the masturbation of passengers only.</p>
<p>A man who moved in the middle of the night to sit in a center seat next to a sleeping girl by a window should have been tapped on the shoulder and questioned by a FA for why he moved. If his answer makes no sense, he should be told to return to his assigned seat.</p>
<p>That’s not everybody who moves. The context is very specific and should be recognized by a FA, especially in the quiet middle of the night on an overnight flight.</p>
<p>Is there another article about this incident or just the one posted in the OP? I can’t find if it says the row she was in was a 2 or 3 seat row. Do we know if he moved to a “middle seat” ? (That would be a red flag-- everyone <strong>hates</strong> middle seats 
)</p>
<p>Not to excuse his disgusting behavior in any way, shape or form, but people change seats all the time on flights. Sometimes there are 2 empty seats next to each other and a person can spread out a bit whereas the person may originally have had someone next to them (a possibility in this case), sometimes the person next to them originally isn’t the most “desirable” person to sit next to for any of a number of reasons (odor, excessive conversationalist, etc), sometimes the person needs to get off the plane quickly when it lands in the morning (early meeting or whatever) so moves to a seat closer to the front of the plane, etc. Please don’t flame me, but I just don’t see that a FA should automatically question any or every passenger if they choose to change seats. This guy would obviously have made up some crock of baloney anyway. According to the article,
so perhaps there was some due diligence that should have occurred and the FA should have kept an eye on this guy if he/she wasn’t in the middle of having to get the plane ready for landing, but in all fairness to the FA, what has this world come to if we have to assume that anytime some guy changes seats on a plane it is because he wants to do the nasty next to some young girl? Again, please don’t flame me, but it is just a sad state of affairs when we have to automatically think the worst of everyone. Yes, it is the FA’s responsibility to keep all passengers safe, and maybe the FA <em>shoud</em> think the worst of everyone. It is just sad, IMO.</p>
<p>Now, justamom-
Did you select the “white zone” over the red zone or the blue zone (or whatever… its been a long time since I’ve seen the movie “Airplane”) on purpose? Ewwwwww…</p>
<p>When you’re watching a group of people with security in your mind, you simply watch for anything unusual. </p>
<p>The article mentions as fact that (at least one) FA noticed him move. He moved seats in the middle of the night. That it was noticed and rememebered means to me that it was unusual and noticeable, memorable.</p>
<p>What the FA('s) chose not to do was go and look or ask. </p>
<p>Lazy and stupid.</p>
<p>As well, the article states she signalled for help (a buzzer button?) and nobody came.
Only another passenger helped calm her as she was crying after discovering what had happened to her while she slept.</p>
<p>
Can’t find that detail either. Did I overlook it? All I see is that she slept most of the flight and when se awakened she noticed the sleazeball next to her. I am not sure we know exactly when he moved. I have moved seats, as has my H. Don’t recall ever being asked why. The disgraceful part, IMO, is that she tried to get a FA’s attention and couldn’t, and that the lady in front of her had to be the one to help her. Under the circumstances she should have screamed!! That would get the appropriate attention.</p>
<p>jym626, as a huge Airplane fan (I even got to go to a reunion party a couple of years ago, meet the cast and crew, and see the film along with them).</p>
<p>I simply couldn’t help myself.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>From that, I inferred “middle of the night.”</p>
<p>justamom-
Yours was a great line! (and it was a great movie-- “Don’t call me Shirley”…)</p>
<p>I was just discussing this incident with a friend. She asked me if we knew the ethnicity of either of the individuals involved. What if the gentleman was a minority and was questioned by a FA as to why he was changing seats? Would this come across as discriminatory? It seems like a potential “lose-lose” situation.</p>
<p>p3t-
I believe the girl took one plane from Houston to Dallas, and then it sounds like she took a red-eye from Dallas to LAX. It sounds to me like the flight probably left Dallas around 11 pm. and she went to sleep pretty soon after the flight took off.
This sounds like the flight probably originated in Houston, with a stop in Dallas. That is a short hop. Then it sounds like it headed for the longer flight to LAX, as a red-eye. I don’t think she actually changed planes.</p>
<p>Maybe I am splitting hairs, p3t, but neither of these statements that you made, that sound like they are presented as fact
are reported in the article.</p>
<p>^^^OK, but what difference does that make? What am I missing?</p>
<p>I had somebody do that while sitting next to me on a commuter train once, and I was wide awake. He hid what he was doing under a newspaper, so I didn’t catch on for a few minutes, and I was trapped in the window seat. There was no conductor in the car to complain to, so I really couldn’t do anything. The results got all over my skirt. Since then, I always sit on the aisle on trains, unless the person in the aisle seat is a woman in business clothing. </p>
<p>I never thought about planes, though.</p>
<p>Mafool,
To me, it sounds like some are assuming that this perv moved in the middle of the night to a middle seat next to the sleeping girl. That sounds more nefarious than if someone had moved earlier in the flight, perhaps to an aisle seat of a 2 seat row. Just paints a very different picture. I envision one kinda skulking in the dark of night to a less desired (middle) seat to plunk down next to som enubile young lady, as opposed to someone possibly just appearing to make a seat change comparatively early in the flight, possible to have an aisle seat. The first image is more “smarmy” sounding to me. Again, I am not excusing this creeps behavior. I am just not seeing a reason to ask someone why they are changing seats. I am still appalled that the FAs didnt respond when the girl tried to get their attention. That is unacceptable. I just don’t see that this guy changing seats would have raised all the red flags that seem to be being suggested here. Was he wearing a long overcoat and fedora or something?? What would have flagged his seat change as so out of the ordinary? </p>
<p>Interesting to read some of the comments that are posted under the original article. They are having a similar discussion. My favorite post there was something like "brings new meaning to “flying the friendly skies’ , doesnt it”. LOL!</p>
<p>Marion-
EEEWWWWW. Was it perchance a blue dress???</p>
<p>“The results got all over my skirt.”</p>
<p>I hope you insisted that he reimburse you for your dry cleaning bill, Marian.</p>
<p>ellemenope: always happy to provide a chuckle</p>
<p>sonssecty-
I am trying to think about Marion’s options… I think running as fast as humanly possible was probably her best choice!! Her other options…
- ask for drycleaning payment right then and there (somehow, in an odd way, it engenders the thought of payment for…er… well, you know) And besides, who wants to stick around (bad choice of words) to ask for payment from a perv
or… - Marion giving the perv her name and address to mail her a payment… (not a chance!!!)</p>
<p>Poor Marion. You probably donated the skirt to charity!</p>
<p>God Marion, that was awful! If it had happened to me, and I had had the presence of mind (though, I know that I would not have), I would have lifted my skirt and smeared his own semen all over his ugly, disgusting face!</p>
<p>My point was that the suit notes that the FA’s remember him moving. If they remember such a thing, they noticed. It must have been noteworthy. It must have seemed unusual for someone to move seats in the middle of the night.
I don’t know if he was in a center or aisle seat, but either way he had unimpeded access to a sleeping young woman. If I was an FA and noticed someone moved for no apparent reason, I’d get off my keister and go check the situation. They walk up and down the aisles selling drinks and giving out peanuts. As they walk through the plane, don’t they look at the passengers?
“Ensuring people’s safety” means a lot more than waiting for someone to scream for you. It’s more proactive than that.</p>
<p>If you slap somebody in this case, is it considered self-defense? I think I might beat the living **** out of this guy with something(my purse for example, which weights a ton). Do you go to jail?</p>
<p>Do you think that something like this would occur in first class?</p>
<p>Marian, on my god, you were a victim of a biohazard spill!</p>
<p>Columbia_Student, I had the same thought. My purse was once used as a weapon against a guy who was clearly interested in its contents with no consequences for me (the guy ran away too fast, so I can not comment on his “consequences”).</p>