A woman named Wendi Williams, who was one of the passengers on a recent American Airlines flight between New Orleans and Charlotte, made the headlines when the video she took of the man that was sitting on the seat behind her and punching her seat has gathered millions of views on social media.
The female passenger had just left a teaching conference and reclined her seat as soon as the aircraft got in the air, but the man behind her asked if she could raise so he could enjoy his meal.
According to Williams, she complied with the plea, and after he was done eating, she reclined her seat again, but the man started repeatedly hitting it.
She explained: “I was leaving a teacher’s conference, and we got onto the plane and the man behind me, as soon as we got in the air, I reclined, and he asked me if … I would put my seat back up while he ate, which I did. About 10 minutes later, he was done, and I put my seat back down, at which point he started full-on punching the back of my seat really hard that I was flying forward.”
Williams stated that at this point, she tried to get the attention of the flight attendant, but since nobody arrived to help her, she resorted to videotaping the man.
However, when the stewardess finally appeared, she reportedly had an attitude with Williams and took the other passenger’s side instead.
She said: “[She] said, ‘What?’ And I said, ‘The guy behind me is repeatedly hitting me’ and she went back to him, like changed personalities, and was the kindest person in the world and said, ‘Oh, are you okay? It’s really tight back here. I’m sorry, And then she said to me, ‘Delete the video,’ and I thought, ‘Why would I delete the video?'”
In addition, the air hostess allegedly asked Williams to delete the video, as it was against the law to film video on a plane.
As a result, Williams asked the flight attendant about her name and was given a Passenger Disturbance Notice.
Following the incident, Williams claimed she would take legal action against the unidentified passenger and has already looked for advice from an aviation attorney.
Williams further remarked that the man, who harassed her during the flight, should be charged with assault; and the air hostess should be terminated from her position.
Reactions have been mixed on the subject. One commenter stated: “After about 10 pushes, I would have slapped the fire out this dude! The seat is allowed to decline. He had choices afforded him by not flying, choosing an exit row seat or paying a little more to sit in a row with more legroom.”
A second more controversial point of view read: “She’s petty. She must have enjoyed it she sat there so long and didn’t ask anyone to make him stop. That’s a whole chair massage ? …”
Cable TV covered the story extensively.
