An online sexual harassment law expert was harassed by two strangers on a Virgin Atlantic flight. Photo / Getty Images
An online sexual harassment law expert was harassed by two strangers on a Virgin Atlantic flight. Photo / Getty Images
A legal sexual attack expert was personally harassed by strangers on a Virgin Atlantic flight.
Jessica Van Meir, from Atlanta, Georgia, was sexually harassed on the Virgin Atlantic seat chat system by two strangers sitting nine rows away from her.
Van Meir shared images of the seat chat on Twitterafter her flight.
The passenger that was nine rows away called Van Meir a "tidy babe." Photo / Twitter
After another stranger messaged Van Meir, she told then that she worked in a law firm that specialises in online sexual harassment. Photo / Twitter
One of them said: "Welcome to hell", while the other named himself "big d*** swinger" and sent Van Meir winky face emojis.
The Cambridge University graduate replied to her harassers that she worked at a law firm specialising in online sexual harassment and that she hopes they enjoy being reported to Virgin Atlantic.
Jessica Van Meir was sexually harassed on her Virgin Atlantic flight through the seat chat system. Photo / Twitter
Tweeting about the ordeal Van Meir said: "I was on a Virgin Atlantic flight, and I unexpectedly received these sexually harassing messages on my screen."
"I was in 55C. The flight attendants were helpful and dealt with it swiftly. Have any other women had this happen to them?"
"Virgin Atlantic, you should probably take measures to prevent this from happening by flagging specific language and putting in place a reporting function on the chat to report abusive users," Van Meir added.
The airline has since got in contact with Van Meir apologising for the situation and said that they were "reviewing our systems to make sure this doesn't happen again".
I received this email today from @VirginAtlantic. I appreciate their following up on it & hope they’ll take measures to prevent this & other forms of sexual harassment from happening to others.
A seat chat is a fun function & I’m not against it, but it can easily be abused. pic.twitter.com/s5kD8Qe0UY
A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson also told MailOnline that they were "extremely concerned to hear of the incident reported on board one of our flights and are investigating as a matter of urgency".
"We want all of our customers to have the best possible experience when they fly with us, and have zero tolerance for any disruptive or inappropriate behaviour.
"We're grateful to our cabin crew who supported our customer following this incident and would like to apologise for the distress caused."
