Elly Shariat, the passenger who was forced to sit through the entire show for fear of being attacked by the man, live-tweeted the passenger's nearly five-hour-long masturbation session after reaching out to Southwest Airlines via Twitter.
"I've spent this entire flight sitting next to a guy who has his iPad open on the tray table, watching porn, WITHOUT using headphones or anything, and twice now his body has started shaking in the throes of his orgasmic bliss," she tweeted at the airline. "I'm so disgusted."
— the real elly-ice™ (@shariatPR) May 29, 2018
— the real elly-ice™ (@shariatPR) May 29, 2018
It wasn't until after Shariat tweeted out comments about the man not covering himself and handing his soiled napkins to a flight attendant that Southwest responded to her complaints.
"This is never something that we want to have happen on our flights," Heather, a Southwest representative, said. "Please be sure to reach out to one of the Flight Attendants onboard your flight."
But there was no way to do so without putting herself at risk, according to Shariat.
"He's in the window seat. I'm in the middle. And there's someone dead asleep to my left," she responded. "I can't move. Which is why I purchased WiFi to tweet you."
— the real elly-ice™ (@shariatPR) May 29, 2018
So what did Heather from Southwest suggest to Shariat? Sit through it.
"If you feel more comfortable, you can speak to the Crew once you land. We want to be able to help, and the best way to do so is to contact the Crew directly onboard your flight," she said.
Shariat later fired back with a "fine" and that she "will stay aboard until everyone gets off the flight, continuing the torture, because that's exactly what someone who is being assaulted like this wants to do."
Speaking to Fox News, the frustrated traveller stated that the male passenger began his masturbation fest just moments after the plane took off from Sin City, stressing that he had some PornHub videos already loaded and ready to go.
"The first time he was 'finishing,' he used his left hand and gripped my right forearm, pinning it down to the arm rest between us," she told the outlet. "It made it clear to me how strong he was, given how forceful his grip was, which is why I felt uncomfortable and reached out to [Southwest] on Twitter — hoping they'd ask my seat number and notify someone — because I didn't know if he'd try to physically do anything else if I went to take a photo or video, nor did I want to find out."
Shariat later told TMZ that while she waited to speak with airline staff, the porn-watching passenger patted her on the head and said, "hope you enjoyed the show," before departing the plane.
Upon speaking with airline staff, she was referred to a supervisor who offered her a dinner voucher. Though Southwest has confirmed it is investigating the incident, according to Fox, as of Wednesday, no one from the airline has directly reached out to her.
Shariat explained in a series of tweets that she decided to come forward about the incident as a way to "help bring about some immediate and overdue changes in the industry to properly address these situations and prevent them from happening in the first place."
Shariat, however, is just one of many Southwest Airline travelers to not have the greatest experience with the company. Just two days ago on Tuesday, the airline had to apologize after one of its desk agents forced a woman to prove she was the mother of her mixed-race son before being allowed to board her flight.
