Alaska Airline Responds To Randi Zuckerberg's Letter Against Fellow Passenger's Sexual Remarks

Facebook’s co-founder and CEO Randi Zuckerberg, Mark Zuckerberg’s sister, wrote a letter to Alaska Airlines Wednesday night after a flight attendant on the plane brushed off a fellow passenger’s “lewd sexual remarks” toward her. In response, the airline suspended the travel privileges of the man and promised to investigate the matter further.

Zuckerberg wrote a letter directed to the president and CEO of Alaska Airlines and Alaska Air Group, Bradley Tilden, along with Jeff Butler, vice president of airport operation and customer service, and vice president of in-flight services Andy Schneider. The letter, which she shared on Twitter, explained how a passenger sitting next to her made repeated sexual remarks and rued that the flight attendant refused to act on it since the man was a frequent flyer.

According to Zuckerberg, she was flying from Los Angeles, California, to Mazatlán, Mexico, when the passenger next to her started talking about “touching himself, kept asking me if I fantasized about the female business colleague I was traveling with and commented on the woman’s bodies boarding the aircraft.”

Speaking about the reaction of the flight attendant to her complaint, Zuckerberg said that as soon as she informed them about the offensive comments made by the passenger, the attendant said he was a frequent flyer of the airline.

The attendant also allegedly asked her not to take the man’s remarks personally as he “just doesn’t have a filter” and kept serving him “drinks” — presumably alcohol. The attendant, at one point, also asked Zuckerberg to change her seat which she refused, saying she was the one being harassed and should not have to move.

Zuckerberg also gave her and the offender’s seat numbers to make it easier for the airline to track him down. She expressed annoyance at herself for not making more of a scene regarding the matter but Zuckerberg berated Alaska Airline for “knowingly and willingly providing this man with a platform to harass women.” At the end of the letter, Zuckerberg shared her intent of posting her experience on social media and also vowed to take serious action in the matter.

In response to her letter, Alaska Airlines said it would conduct an investigation into the matter and had suspended the passenger's travel privileges. In a tweet later Wednesday night, Zuckerberg thanked the airline for taking the matter seriously.

In a blog post Thursday, Andrea Andy Schneider, vice president of People of Alaska Airline also addressed Zuckerber’s complaint and said that the report is very disturbing. "As a company, we have zero tolerance for any type of misconduct that creates an unsafe environment for our guests and our employees," Schneider wrote in the post.

Alaska Airline also tweeted to Zuckerberg and reassured her that they have launched an investigation into the matter which is "very disturing."