A teenager has alleged that a male passenger groped her “for an hour” during a flight to California. When she spoke up and alerted flight attendants to the problem, however, her nightmare went from bad to worse.
Eighteen-year-old TikTok influencer Mobilesushibar was on a Spirit Airlines flight to California when she claims she was groped by a male passenger, who was seated behind her. After boarding her flight at 6 am on a Wednesday with her family, she explained that she switched seats with a woman who wanted an aisle seat, according to Meaww. Sadly, as she sat next to the window, things took a horrific turn.
After getting settled, the teen began reading a book when she “felt a slight touch like something was caressing” her. “I wonder what this feeling could be. It was really subtle, and I reached my hand over and touched his fingertips,” she recalled. Stunned, she then texted her sister to tell her that she was being groped by the man seated behind her, who was reaching through the seats to touch her.
“I realized that the man behind me is touching me, so I move my arm out of the way,” TikTok influencer Mobilesushibar explained, adding, “I thought it would stop there because he knows that I know that he was touching me because I touched his fingertips.” Sadly, she was wrong. “It happened again, so this is when I was like I can tell he’s trying to reach for my boobs,” the teen alleged.
That’s when she pulled out her cellphone and began to record because she didn’t want to let the “disgusting” man “get away” with “harassing her.” In the video, which she posted to TikTok, the young woman is seen sitting in the window seat, leaning back to show the man’s hand appearing from around the back of her seat. She quickly moves away from the side of the seat, and the man’s hand is then seen grasping at the air between the seat gap as he tries to get his fingers closer to the teen.
@mobilesushibar The man was like 50-60s and I was so uncomfy @spiritairlines #fyp #foryou #harassmentawareness ♬ original sound – Sushi monster
“The man was like 50-60s and I was so uncomfy @spiritairlines #fyp#foryou #harassmentawareness,” read the video’s caption. “On my flight to California the man behind kept touching my arms and boobs,” voiceover of the video alleged. Armed with the footage of the old man’s groping attempt, Mobilesushibar then allegedly complained to the flight attendants — but that’s when things allegedly went from bad to worse.
“When I confronted him and showed the video to everyone around me and the flight attendants, I was told to sit down and stay quiet,” she alleged, claiming her concerns were shrugged off. “He was trying to deny it, and I was told to please calm down, sit down, be quiet,” she added, reiterating how her complaints were dismissed.
Although she wedged her sweater between the seat in an attempt to “stop” the harassment herself, she alleged that he “moved it and continued,” the Daily Mail reported. “So I have to sit there through an hour of harassment,” she furthered. Of course, the entire chain of events made her “really upset that no one cared” about what she was going through “for so long.”
“The fact that I had to sit there and collect evidence for nothing speaks volumes,” Mobilesushibar furthered, expressing her disgust over being not only ignored but also told off by attendants after she complained, according to Meaww, and she wasn’t the only one left appalled. After posting the now-viral clip, the teen was flooded with supportive comments from concerned TikTok users.
Many urged her to file a lawsuit against Spirit Airlines while others suggested they would have broken the man’s fingers as they offered their condolences. Such drastic measures shouldn’t have been necessary. This could have and should have been easily addressed by the staff. Instead, this girl’s safety was compromised.
While it’s understandable that an airline does not want to create chaos while in the air, all they had to do was move her rather than make her sit there and endure the abuse. That’s not okay. Now, instead of having an obvious predator behind bars where he belongs, he’s free to sexually harass other teens and women. Shame on those who chose to protect the criminal in this case, which is exactly what they did when they failed this girl and failed to report this assault to the appropriate authorities.
