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'Stay quiet': Teen groped by male passenger on board flight

An 18-year-old woman has claimed in a series of TikTok videos that a man sitting behind her during a recent flight repeatedly groped her through the gap in the seats.

The unnamed American woman, who uses the handle @mobilesushibar, posted footage of the man’s hand as he appears to move closer to the side of her breast while her arm is propped up on the window seat’s armrest.

“On my flight to California the man behind me kept touching my arms and boobz (sic),” she said in the footage, adding that the man was in his 50s or 60s.

“And when I confronted him and showed the videos to everyone around me, and the flight attendants I was told to sit down and stay quiet.

“F you Spirit Airlines,” she said.

The video quickly gained more than 2.6 million views, prompting the 18-year-old to explain the situation in several additional clips.

Footage of the man trying to touch the teen's breast.
The unnamed woman posted footage of the man’s hand as he appears to move closer to the side of her breast while her arm is propped up on the window seat’s armrest. Source: TikTok

TikToker was separated from family

She said she boarded the 6am flight with family members but for some reason their seats were spread out across the plane.

She was assigned the aisle seat, but swapped with a woman next to her who offered the teen the window instead.

The TikToker said she placed her elbow on her arm rest and leaned against the window to read her book while waiting for take-off.

“And I feel like a slight touch like something's caressing me right here on my side breast, and I was very confused, and I was like, I wonder what this feeling could be. I thought I was trippin at first, it was really subtle,” she said.

“And then I reached my hand over and touched his fingertips, literally touched the man's fingertips. He swiped his hand away and I was like, oh my goodness someone is touching me right now.”

The teen said she immediately moved her arm out of the way and began texting her sister.

“I thought it would stop there because he knows that I know that he's touching me. And like our fingertips literally touched,” she said.

Teen films groping man for an hour

After a few minutes, the woman began to get uncomfortable in the position she was reading in and instinctively propped her arm back up against the window.

She said the man behind her again grabbed at her breast so she decided to film him and alert the flight attendants.

“I gathered all the evidence I needed and that's when I decided to stand up for myself and cause a scene because what is better to do when being harassed than cause a scene,” she said.

“The flight attendants come over and I'm showing the video to him, who's trying to deny it.

“So the flight attendants and everyone is around us and I am yelling, obviously about how he has been harassing me and I was told, please calm down. Sit down, be quiet.”

The 18-year-old said none of the other passengers got up to help her and the man was not moved from his seat.

The 18-year-old woman during follow-up videos.
The video quickly gained more than 2.6 million views, prompting the 18-year-old to explain the situation in several additional clips. Source: TikTok

Horrified viewers send condolences

Thousands of horrified viewers commented on the footage, asking the woman if she was ok and sending their condolences.

“I’m so sorry this happened. Like who does that,” one person wrote.

“You really going to let this happen?” another said, tagging Spirit Airlines.

“I want to break his fingers,” a third woman fumed.

Yahoo News Australia has contacted Spirit Airlines for comment.

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