This happened some time ago and every time I think about it it still creeps me out. Let me start by saying that with the exception of this odd experience, I have always enjoyed flying.
I was on a flight from LAX back to KLIA during summer break with a stopover in Japan. The flight to Japan was great; I had a whole row of 4 seats to myself and was looking forward to enjoying the trip. And of course in Japan, it all came to an end when more passengers were picked up. Whatever, I made it this far. I shrugged and figured I’d just deal with it. Sure enough, a family that consisted of mother, daughter (about 5-6), and son (about 10-12), boarded and had seats next to mine. I had the aisle seat; son sat next to me, then mother in the middle of both her kids.
The kids were dressed in PJs, and since this is a red eye I figured mom was a great parent, probably done this before, and both those kids were going to nod straight off. The plane took off. Both kids were doing kid’s things. Mom was trying to calm fussy daughter, nothing unusual there, and I just put on my headphones and pulled out my Kindle to settle in. Let me say that they had been great so far, so I was not expecting any problems.
Then I felt it; a hand on my upper thigh. Looking down I saw son’s hand placed casually there. At first I brushed it off as nothing. He was a kid right? Knowing that I had a heightened distaste of strangers touching me, I just told myself I was being too sensitive; we were in a plane after all. Some things just can’t be helped. I casually brushed it off and returned to my reading. I placed a blanket over my legs just in case though.
About 30 minutes later, I felt it again. Looking down I saw the same hand on my upper thigh, under the blanket. Now I was annoyed. I debated on whether I should say something and decided against it. I had a long flight; I didn’t feel up to saying anything as I didn’t think I could keep my temper in check. Again, I brushed it off harshly, tucked the blanket more securely, and as a further prevention crossed my legs thinking I could keep myself as far away from him as I possibly can.
Just when I thought it worked, I felt that little creep’s hand on my thighs again. UNDER THE $&@!? BLANKET. To make matters worse, it was making its way up. I was seriously angry. I snuck a peek; creep was pretending to sleep, and mom was definitely in dreamland. I know creep was pretending because he was grinning from ear to ear with his eyes closed. I wanted to ring for the FA but contemplated the scene that might happen. FA might tell mom, and mom, at worse, might throw a fit and insist that I was making it up or asking for it. (I was dressed in shorts and a tank, not usual attire for an Asian chick going to Malaysia.)
I was pretty livid to be put in that position, so I did the only thing I could think of. I pretended to rummage in my carry-on under my seat and pulled out some heavy books I was planning to read, and proceeded to drop them suddenly on top of my lap, directly above El Creepo’s hand. One of the books was a collection of works and weighed at least 5 pounds (I hoped). I heard him give a little yelp as he took his hand away. “Success!” I thought as I pretended that I didn’t know why he was in pain. Mother woke a little and told him to go back to sleep, oblivious to what had happened, and I thought the problem was solved, hoping that was the end of it. Alas, it wasn’t.
About an hour later I felt my shoulder getting heavier. Somehow that creep managed to lay his head on my shoulder as he was going to sleep. Worse, his hand started creeping its way on my arm as if I was his pillow and towards my breast. It took me several minutes to calm myself as I didn’t want to start a scene, especially on a red eye when most everyone is asleep. So I just roughly pushed the creep away while pulling my arm away from him, and got up to use the facilities. I stayed in there for about 15 minutes, trying to calm the hell fire inside. I wanted so much to yell at the kid and his mom, but decided against it as I hated scenes of any kind. And I was so close to my destination, I didn’t want to have to call my parents to get me from a police station because of El Creepo.
I just squared my shoulders and returned, deciding that if he even breathed in my direction I would just tell the FA about it and be done with it. This time, I leaned as far away from him as possible and popped a pill to calm down while wrapping myself in the airline blanket. Sure enough, when Creepo felt it was safe again he decided to lean my way. This time l turned my head and stared at him with eyes that promised a thousand pains if he so much as laid one finger on me. He got the hint. With fear on his face, he turned and slept on his mother’s shoulder. The rest of the flight he didn’t once look at me or did anything else. Thank goodness my flight back was better with nice seatmates who just wanted to be left alone like I do.
I know it’s a long post, but thanks for letting me rant. That incident was by far my worse flight experience ever, and that includes a 4-year-old who freaked out when I leaned my seat back and kicked it the entire duration of a 12 hour flight.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
You are way more patient than me!
Oh wow. This right here – the fact you were worried about retribution based on your clothing – says a lot. This has to change! So sorry it happened to you.
Yes, that is one creepy kid.
I was cringing the entire time I read this. Ewwww!
I think this perverted behavior on the part of this kid should get nipped in the bud! If not, he will grow up thinking he can act this way and will have to register as a sex offender. If the authorities can stop behavior that will potentially hurt the offender's family and their victims, I am all for it!