Zuckerberg’s sister says she was sexually harassed on flight
seattle — Alaska Airlines said on Thursday it’s investigating a claim that flight attendants allowed a passenger to sexually harass a former Facebook executive on a flight.
Randi Zuckerberg, who is also Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s sister, took to social media on Wednesday to detail her recent flight between Los Angeles and Mazatlan, Mexico.
In a letter to executives of the Seattle-based airline, she said she was extremely uncomfortable with a man sitting near her, explaining he constantly made sexually explicit and lewd comments to her and others in the first-class section while being served multiple alcoholic drinks.
Zuckerberg said the man talked about touching himself, asked if she fantasised about the colleague she was travelling with, and commented on the bodies of female passengers as they boarded the plane.
He also mocked “Millennial women” when talking about recent sexual harassment news reports.
Zuckerberg said she reported the man to flight attendants, who seemed to make light of the situation while replying the man was a regular flyer on the route.
She said she was upset when they told her not to take it personally and offered to move her to a seat at the back of the plane.
“Which I almost did until I realised ... why should I have to move? I’m the one that is being harassed!” she wrote.
She wrote that she was furious with the airline for “knowingly and
As a company, we have zero tolerance for any type of sexual misconduct that creates an unsafe environment for our guests and crew members
Alaska Airlines’ official
willingly providing this man with a platform to harass women.”
The airline said it contacted Zuckerberg about the “disturbing” claims and revoked the man’s travel privileges pending the outcome of the investigation.
The airline said in part: “We want our guests to feel safe. As a company, we have zero tolerance for any type of sexual misconduct that creates an unsafe environment for our guests and crew members.”
Zuckerberg’s description of the incident on a trip from Los Angeles to Mazatlan, Mexico, drew widespread media attention and Alaska Airlines temporarily revoked the passenger’s travel privileges, pending an investigation. Still, airlines must take stronger action to crack down on in-flight sexual harassment and assault, said Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA.
“Let’s be clear that this is not an Alaska problem,” Nelson said in a statement on Thursday. “It is an issue at the forefront of national awareness and it is a critical time for the airline industry to examine the steps necessary to take this on.”— AFP, Bloomberg