American Airlines Says Don’t Blame Them If Flight Attendants Take Video Of Children Using The Lavatory – View from the Wing

American Airlines Says Don’t Blame Them If Flight Attendants Take Video Of Children Using The Lavatory

by Gary Leff on February 5, 2024

Back in September an American Airlines flight attendant was accused of filming a teen girl passenger in the lavatory using a hidden camera on a American’s flight 1441 from Charlotte to Boston.

The man first asked the teen girl to wait, went into the lavatory, and then directed her into the first class bathroom – where she noticed and took a photo of what’s apparently the flight attendant’s iPhone stuck to the toilet in the lavatory with maintenance stickers. According to the girl’s family, he went into the lavatory again once she’d left.

Credit: Lewis & Llewellyn LLP

The family is suing American, and claiming the airline allowed the crewmember to erase the evidence. As of December the flight attendant was still employed by American, but hadn’t worked a trip since the incident was reported. And according to the family, American didn’t even reach out to them after the flight to check on their daughter. (While that seems heartless and disinterested, it may have been the advice of their counsel in expectation of a lawsuit.)

The airline has now asked a court to dismiss the suit. American Airlines says that they are not responsible when the employees that they’ve selected, trained and put into a position of authority in the cabin abuse that position to create child pornography by filming teenage girls in the lavatory.

According to American they’re “not liable for acts or crimes of its employees” even during the course of their duties.

It turns out this wasn’t the first or even second time he’d done this. According to the FBI, which searched the crewmember’s iCloud accont, he’d “recorded a minor using the bathroom on a plane” four times already in 2023 before he was caught, capturing children “7, 9, 11 and 14 years old” on video. The Bureau also reportedly found several hundred “AI-generated child pornography images.” He’s been charged with possession of child pornography and attempted sexual exploitation of a minor.

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