Drunk British Airways Manager Sentenced for Groping Sleeping Male Passenger

A non-revving British Airways cabin manager — since fired — has been sentenced to community service for drunkenly groping a male business class passenger on a flight from London to Bangkok last year.

The employee reportedly “touched the man at least three times before fainting” and the passenger who says he was touched “on his ‘inner thigh'” shouted “what the f*** are you doing? Stay away” before clocking his assailant.

The passenger also told Isleworth Crown Court that his penis was touched above his clothing but Speak denies one count of sexual assault.

‘The first time was the feeling of a light breeze on my thigh. I felt it again and saw the same guy walking back to his seat. It was a light touch on my thigh, the inner thigh.

‘Something happened again and I caught the hand. It was in the crotch area.

‘He mumbled and stumbled. I saw embarrassment on his face, shocked that he had been caught. I think that he might have been drunk.’

…[The prosecutor] said: ‘On two occasions the complainant says he was touched above clothing on his penis.

‘He was woken by someone running his hand over his thigh area, near his crotch. He raised his eye mask and saw the man in the pink shirt retreating.

‘It happened again forty minutes later. The hand went up towards his waistband and it seemed to be prolonged.


It’s surprising drunk randy passengers don’t pull stunts like this more often given the close quarters of BA business class

The incident began four hours into the flight. The passenger reported the nonrev to cabin crew, who spoke to the man before he “fainted and fell to the floor.” He denies touching the passenger, but says he took a sleeping pill and had a few drinks.

His sentence is 160 hours of community service, registering as a sex offender for 5 years, and $533 in court costs. The judge in the case noted that “fortunately for [the crew member] t was reported to the UK police rather than the police in Thailand.” He further scolded the ex-crew member for lack of remorse.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. That does it; I am not taking off my chastity belt anymore when I go to sleep on BA premium class flights.

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