Sexual Assault Victims Sue Frontier Airlines For Ignoring Their Plea For Help

Frontier Airlines is being sued by two women who claim the airlines failed to help them after they were sexually assaulted by co-passengers, reports said.

The women alleged in a federal lawsuit filed in Colorado that they were sexually assaulted in separate incidents in 2018 on Frontier airlines, CNN reported. One incident took place in October on a trip to Providence, while the other took place the following month on a flight bound to Florida.

Both women claimed to have informed their respective flight attendants, but no further action was taken. The airline personnel failed to inform the law enforcement officers and did not help the women to collect evidence or identities of the assailants.

The lawsuit accuses Frontier of failing to follow policies and procedures to prevent, report, and respond to the sexual assault of its passengers on its flights.

Jennifer de la Cruz, Frontier Airlines’ corporate communications director, declined to comment on the charges in the lawsuit but said that the safety of passengers and crew members was the number one priority at Frontier Airlines.

According to her, the budget airlines have strict policies in place to proactively and appropriately respond to reports of misconduct and alleged crimes.

Sexual assault cases abroad flights are a growing concern for the FBI as the numbers continue to grow alarmingly. Between the fiscal years 2014-2017, the FBI investigations into midair sexual assaults went up by 66 percent.

FBI Special Agent David Rodski had said at the time that the department was not sure why the numbers had gone up, CNN reported.

The lawsuit against Frontier Airlines comes two weeks after the airlines were sued by a group of its female pilots and flight attendants, alleging that the airlines forced them onto unpaid leave while pregnant and refused to consider their breastfeeding needs.