The FBI has opened an investigation after a hidden camera was allegedly found in the First Class lavatory during an American Airlines flight from Charlotte to Boston on Saturday morning.
Federal officials have confirmed they are investigating a “potential criminal act” onboard American Airlines flight 1441, although they have not provided any further details about their investigation.
Sources, however, claim that a hidden camera was found in an onboard restroom shortly after a young girl went into the lavatory.
Speaking to local news station Boston 25, one passenger who was on the flight said the girl’s mother came running up the aisle and prevented another woman from entering the toilet, warning her that she believed a camera was in the lavatory.
“The mom came up, she stopped the other lady from going in the bathroom. She said ‘don’t go in there,’” the passenger told reporters.
The Massachusetts State Police alongside the FBI responded to the complaint and met the Airbus A321 aircraft after it arrived at around 10 am on Saturday. A preliminary investigation determined that a potential criminal act occurred midflight, which puts the incident under the jurisdiction of the FBI.
A spokesperson for American Airlines said the carrier was taking the allegation “very seriously”. The airline is cooperating with law enforcement, the spokesperson continued, noting that it couldn’t provide further information because the incident was under active investigation.
In a statement, the airline said: “American Airlines flight 1441 from Charlotte (CLT) to Boston (BOS) was met by law enforcement upon arrival.”
“We take this matter very seriously and are fully cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation, as safety and security are our highest priorities.”
In 2019, a Southwest Airlines flight attendant accused a pilot of hiding a camera in an onboard lavatory and livestreaming the feed to an iPad in the cockpit.
The pilot’s union later explained that the incident was a poor attempt at humor in which the pilot took a selfie video from the chest up, fully clothed, in the lavatory of a completely different airplane months before and then replayed it to the flight attendant when she entered the flight deck.
