A lawsuit filed against Southwest Airlines blames the carrier’s famous decades-old group boarding process and non-assigned seating policy for a horrendous sexual assault perpetrated against a 16-year-old boy by a registered pedophile on one of its flights.
The incident dates back to July 2022, although a lawsuit has only now been filed against Southwest Airlines in a California district court, accusing the carrier of negligence for failing to protect the child.
Following a similar incident in 2019, the lawsuit claims Southwest Airlines must have known that its seating policy puts children in danger by separating them from their parents and often placing them in middle seats between two adults.
Southwest settled that case but didn’t change its seating policy, resulting in “yet another minor being terrorized and repeatedly sexually assaulted at 30,000 feet by an intoxicated male passenger,” the lawsuit alleges.
The incident occurred on July 4, 2022, when Zaine Hahn and his father were traveling from San Diego to Portland for a family event. Their itinerary included a plane change in Las Vegas and it was here where father and son became separated.
The pair had been placed in Southwest’s Boarding Group C, meaning they were some of the last passengers to board the plane and were left to take whatever open seats were left.
Zaine ended up in a middle seat between two men close to the back of the aircraft, while his father had to sit much further forward and out of sight of his son.
Zaine’s seatmate in the aisle seat ‘reeked of alcohol’ and grabbed at Zaine’s legs several times before grabbing his face and attempting to kiss him. The lawsuit also alleges that the perpetrator tried to get his hands in Zaine’s shorts and grabbed his genitals outside of his shorts.
The sexual assault continued for the remainder of the flight, with the perpetrator trying to get his hands into the victim’s shorts, all while the flight attendants continued about their duties without any intervention.
Zaine was stricken with fear by what was happening and was scared of what the perpetrator would do if he called for help.
It was only after the plane had eventually landed and they had deplaned that the victim was finally able to rejoin his family where he broke down in tears and recounted the details of what he had just been subjected to.
The lawsuit accuses Southwest of negligence and of failing to avoid a ‘foreseeable risk’ that the victim faced by being ‘trapped in a middle seat next to the intoxicated perpetrator’.
Interestingly, Southwest Airlines might be looking to change up its open seating policy with details expected to be announced in September, although this is part of a wider effort to make the carrier more profitable as it loses grounded to other legacy airlines.
Southwest Airlines is under increasing pressure to improve its share price, with activist investor Elliott buying up stock in the carrier in an attempt to change Southwest’s senior leadership team.
Its just shocking that there is not a law for airlines to seat young children and parents together on flights. I think by charging for seats together. It makes the airline even more liable if something happens to children when they are seated away from the parents.