Randi Zuckerberg, who is the founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media (and who also happens to be Mark Zuckerberg’s older sister), took to Twitter after being sexually harassed on an Alaska Airlines flight. The media maven was traveling in first class on a three-hour flight, when the man seated next to her began inappropriate behavior even before the flight took off. When Zuckerberg complained to the flight crew, nothing was done to improve the situation.
Feeling disgusted & degraded after an @AlaskaAir flight where the passenger next to me made repeated lewd sexual remarks. The flight attendants told me he was a frequent flier, brushed off his behavior & kept giving him drinks. I guess his $ means more than our safety? My letter: pic.twitter.com/xOkDpb0dYU
— Randi Zuckerberg (@randizuckerberg) November 30, 2017
In her post, Zuckerberg attached the letter she wrote to the airline after landing. She details the explicit and lewd behavior of the drunken passenger beside her and explained that when she raised the issue with the flight attendants, her concerns were ignored. She wrote that “their response was that this guy was a frequent Alaska Airlines traveler…and they have had to talk to him about his behavior in the past, but oh well, don’t take it personally, this guy just doesn’t have a filter. They came by my seat a few times and sweetly asked the passenger, ‘Are you behaving today?’ with a smile and giggle.”
When Zuckerberg reiterated her discomfort with the man’s behavior, the only solution the crew provided was for her to relocate from her first-class seat to a middle seat in the back of the plane. Yes, the person who was being harassed was told that she could change her seat, and the man causing the trouble would be allowed to stay in his seat and proceed with his inappropriate actions.
Zuckerberg’s letter was quickly noticed by executives at Alaska Airlines and she issued this update on Twitter:
UPDATE: I just got off the phone with two executives from @AlaskaAir who informed me that they are conducting an investigation and have temporarily suspended this passenger’s travel privileges. Thank you for taking this seriously.
— Randi Zuckerberg (@randizuckerberg) November 30, 2017
Zuckerberg had to publicly shame the airline before seeing the type of action that should have taken place in the moment. The situation is yet another example of how women’s safety and comfort is largely ignored, and indecent behavior by men, (especially those with money and power) is allowed to flourish. Hopefully we will be seeing fewer incidents like these as sexual harassment and assault is taken more seriously.
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