Teens say they were groped by strangers on flights and Air Canada, Air Transat didn't do enough to help
CBC
WARNING: This story contains distressing details
Two teens who say they were groped by men sitting next to them on flights say Air Transat and Air Canada did little to help — and in one case blocked her family's efforts to get answers.
One is a 14-year-old girl, who was seated next to a stranger on an Air Transat flight in late August.
Her mother had signed her up for Air Transat's unaccompanied minor program — which promises parents "peace of mind."
At first the man seemed friendly, the girl told Go Public, even playing games with her on the seat screens in front of them.
She says she told him her age. But two hours into the 10-hour flight things took a dark turn when the stranger propositioned her using crude language asking if she wanted to see his genitals, she says.
She says she didn't know how to respond. The man eventually seemed to fall asleep and so did she — until she woke up to him touching her, she says.
"He started leaning his head into me, and then he crossed his arms. And then he started caressing my arm up and down. I was trying to lean the other way to get away from it. But he didn't stop. And then eventually he grabbed my breast and then he smiled at me."
CBC News is not revealing her identity or her mother's because the girl is a complainant of sexual assault.
The girl says she moved to another seat and told a flight attendant, in detail, what happened. She says she didn't note the attendant's name.
But when the flight landed, no one from Air Transat said anything to her mother, despite getting her to sign paperwork saying her daughter had been delivered safely.
"They left a 14-year-old girl to navigate this on her own… it's unacceptable," her mom said.
Air Transat tells Go Public it launched an "in-depth" internal investigation after the mom complained, and claimed none of the crew members "witnessed nor were made aware" of the incident.
The evidence suggests that the airline didn't speak with the girl or any other passengers — but should have, according to lawyer and law professor Janine Benedet, whose research at the University of British Columbia focuses on sexual violence against women including assaults on public transportation.
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