In April 2016, I was sexually assaulted on an overnight flight.

I awoke to a male passenger grabbing my crotch repeatedly. He hit and blocked me as I yelled “no,” slapped his hands and scrambled to get away and alert the crew. Despite my efforts, and to my shock, no action was taken by the airline to identify the attacker or report the incident to authorities. In the weeks that followed, my shock turned to anger and then to action as I discovered the gaps in awareness, training and data. 

As a result of my experience, I am in an ongoing lawsuit with the airline. But it isn’t enough to work for justice for myself. We need industry standards to train airline staff and standardized ways to report and address instances of sexual assault in the skies.

I can’t provide exact numbers on how often assaults occur at 37,000 feet, and neither can airlines, the Federal Aviation Administration, the FBI, or anyone else — that’s a problem. The numbers we do have should be more than enough to spur real action, though.

Flying the unfriendly skies

According to the FBI, there was a 66 percent increase in cases of assault reported to the bureau between 2014 and 2017, but many cases go unreported.

In a survey conducted by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), nearly 70 percent of flight attendants surveyed were sexually harassed or assaulted on the job, but only 7 percent reported it for fear of backlash from their airlines. And 20 percent of flight attendants reported receiving reports of assault from their passengers, but didn’t know how to intervene or report it. As a consequence, less than 50 percent of those reported situations resulted in law enforcement meeting the plane on the ground upon arrival.

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Passengers and crew are sexually assaulted and harassed far too often. When they go unreported, the perpetrators, undeterred, are free to assault again. Airlines have failed to take the issue seriously.

Thanks to advocates, we are increasingly paying attention to sexual assault and harassment on college campuses, in our workplaces and our society at large. But air travel is still an outlier. It’s time to change that.

In response to survivors and advocacy organizations, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) introduced the Stopping Sexual Assault while Flying Enforcement Act of 2017. In September 2018, the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 required that the Department of Transportation (DOT) create a National In-Flight Sexual Misconduct Task Force to address these issues. 

In February, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao announced the task force participants. Sadly, the list does not inspire confidence that change is coming.

Neither the AFA, representing 50,000 flight attendants at 20 airlines, nor survivors of in-flight sexual assault have been named to the task force. Once again, the people most affected by this issue have been pushed out of the rooms where decisions will be made.

The DOT and FAA have a duty to ensure the aviation industry is held accountable for passenger safety, but scandals like ongoing sexual assault and the delayed grounding of the Boeing 737 Max 8, show that FAA leadership has all but abandoned that duty.

Simple, serious solutions to sexual assault

President Trump has finally nominated an FAA administrator — after the post was left vacant for more than a year. It is critical that the next administrator take immediate steps to demonstrate that he will regulate the industry — not protect it.

One simple, immediate step the next FAA administrator can take is by showing that the FAA is serious about deterring and addressing on-board sexual assault and harassment.

In the meantime, predators continue to assault passengers (including children) and crew. Late last month, Vancouver-based journalist Joanna Chiu wrote on Twitter about intervening to protect a minor who was sexually harassed in flight, thankfully the crew responded and the perpetrator was met by security.

It should not require federal legislation for airlines to take a stand against sexual violence and put procedures in place to deter crimes on their planes. While I applaud Alaska Airlines, which is leading the way with new training and in-flight messaging, changes and data reporting must be mandatory across the industry.

As it moves forward, the task force must ensure the following steps are in place: mandatory data collection of reported in-flight sexual misconduct; trauma-informed training for crew; and a zero tolerance statement in pre-flight videos and back-of-the-seat safety cards with clear guidance for passengers who experience or witness sexual misconduct onboard.

For the women, men and children sexually assaulted while flying who have demanded action, as well as those who suffer in silence, the DOT must do more than check a box. Sexual assault can no longer be treated as an inconvenience, it is a crime and must be treated as such.

Allison Dvaladze is the director of global strategy for an international cancer initiative based in Seattle and founder of Protect Airline Passengers from Sexual Assault (PAPSA). Follow her on Twitter @dvarusalka and @papsanow1.