Randi Zuckerberg, a Silicon Valley executive and sister of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, alleges that a male passenger on the Alaska Airlines flight she was on, repeatedly passed “lewd sexual remarks” and the flight attendants did nothing about it.
In a letter to the carrier posted on social media, Ms. Zuckerberg alleged that the harassment began as soon as she boarded the flight. A man seated next to her in first class asked her if she fantasized about a female colleague who was traveling with her, and then he provided vulgar commentary about the women who walked by him as they boarded, she said. He also mocked “millennial women” when talking about recent sexual harassment news reports.
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“Feeling furious, disgusted and degraded after an Alaska Airlines flight during which the passenger next to me made repeated lewd, inappropriate, and offensive sexual remarks to me,” she wrote.
Ms. Zuckerberg said that she and her colleague both reported the man’s behavior to the flight attendants, who, she added, shrugged off their complaints, saying that he was a frequent flier who was known to act that way.
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
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 realized … why should I have to move? I’m the one that is being harassed!” she wrote.
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The incident took place on a trip from Los Angeles to Mazatlan, Mexico on Wednesday. During the three-hour flight, the man was given multiple alcoholic drinks, she said, and continued to harass her the entire time.
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
Alaska Airlines said it is conducting an investigation into the the claims made by the the former Facebook executive. The airliner has also suspended the travel privileges of the person accused of harassment.
