A 25-year-old passenger says getting away from the man sitting beside her on a United flight was only temporary.
The woman says the man began masturbating while looking at her during an early-morning flight from Rochester, New York, to Newark, New Jersey, on Sept. 3. She got out of her seat and alerted the crew.
For much of the roughly hour-long trip, she was allowed to stay away from him. Then the plane prepared to land.
Despite repeatedly telling a flight attendant that she was uncomfortable returning, the woman says she was directed back to the same seat beside the man she had just reported.
Back Beside Him
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The passenger, whose name has not been published, told NBC News that the man began touching himself while staring at her during the 6 a.m. flight.
She left her seat and told flight attendants what was happening. With the flight full, she was allowed to remain away from him for part of the trip rather than move to another passenger seat.
That changed as the plane approached Newark.
“On multiple instances, I said I feel uncomfortable doing that,” she told NBC about being instructed to return to her assigned seat.
She said a flight attendant told her she would only have to remain there for a few more minutes during landing.
Her seat was toward the rear of the aircraft, however, meaning she remained near the man while other passengers began getting off after the plane reached the gate.
He Walked Away
The passenger says nobody stopped the man before he left the aircraft.
She then approached a United gate agent and explained what had happened. According to her account, the employee responded, “What am I supposed to do about it?” and told her that contacting law enforcement was her responsibility.
United later told NBC that its employees learned about the incident as passengers were getting off the plane.
The woman subsequently reported what happened to United Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration and contacted the FBI.
That sequence matters because the FBI’s guidance for crimes aboard aircraft tells passengers who experience or witness sexual misconduct to report it to the flight crew, airport police and the bureau.
The FBI specifically includes indecent exposure and lewd or sexual acts among the types of in-flight misconduct it investigates.
A Different Procedure
The bureau has also described what can happen when a crew receives an in-flight report before landing.
In its 2025 guidance on sexual assault aboard aircraft, the FBI said a passenger should notify the flight crew as quickly as possible so crew members can alert law enforcement on the ground.
That can allow officers or FBI agents to meet an aircraft when it arrives rather than trying to reconstruct the encounter afterward.
The bureau investigated 104 sexual-assault-aboard-aircraft cases in 2024. It cautioned that the actual number of incidents could be higher because some are never reported.
NBC reported that neither the FAA nor the FBI commented on the woman’s specific case.
The Response Afterward
The woman says United’s response after the flight only added to her frustration.
NBC reported that the airline eventually offered her a $100 travel credit toward a trip that had cost roughly $400.
An email reviewed by NBC described what she reported as behavior by another passenger that “caused you concern.”
The woman objected to that characterization, writing back that she had removed herself from the situation and asked for help. She also argued that describing public masturbation merely as behavior that concerned her minimized what she said occurred.
United has apologized to the passenger and says it is examining the incident.
“The safety of our customers and colleagues is our top priority,” the airline said in a statement carried by NBC. “We take these matters seriously and are looking into what happened.”
As of the latest public reporting, the man has not been publicly identified, and no criminal charge connected to the woman’s allegations has been announced.