Family says flight attendant on Boston-bound plane recorded teen with bathroom hidden camera
BOSTON - A Charlotte family is speaking out after their daughter found a hidden camera on an American Airlines flight to Boston. They believe a flight attendant snuck it into the bathroom.
The family has asked to remain anonymous. They were heading to Boston on September 2. While in flight, their 14-year-old daughter went to go the bathroom. She says a male flight attendant told her it would be quicker to use the bathroom in first class.
"She remembers thinking this is odd because there was someone in the first class bathroom also," explained her father during a telephone call with WBZ.
The teen says the crew member asked to go in first, saying he needed to wash his hands before cleaning up garbage.
"Which is weird statement to make if you are starting to collect trash," said the family's attorney Paul Llewellyn.
When the flight attendant came out, she claims he told her the seat was broken, and that it would get fixed when they landed. After she went to the bathroom, she spotted tape that read "seat broken." It was written on red tape that appeared to be crew issued. Under the tape was a cell phone with the flashlight on. The family believes it was recording. She snapped the picture of it and took it to her parents.
"My wife's first thought was I have to stop anyone else from being filmed, so she rushed up to first class as a passenger was about to go in the bathroom. She said, 'Don't go in there," the girl's father said. "I confronted all four of them and said, 'What just happened in the bathroom with my daughter?' I showed them the picture. I took my daughter's phone back there and showed them the picture. When the male flight attendant saw it, his face went totally white."
Later, the family says a female flight attendant came to their seats.
"They said the captain has been notified, and law enforcement will meet us when we land. That male flight attendant needs to have his baggage searched," recounts the father.
The family met Massachusetts State Police at the gate. They say an officer brought the flight attendant's phone to their daughter, and she identified it as the one seen in the bathroom.
"We showed him the picture, and he asked the airline representative, 'Who would have access to this tape, the red tape you see in the photograph, he said there's no way anyone but the crew could have access to that," said the girl's father. "They kept telling her, 'Thank you, you stopped a criminal.' You did something very brave."
American Airlines says they are cooperating fully with the investigation, which is now in the hands of the FBI. The family and their attorney say the airline has yet to reach out to them at all.
"We will wait to see if the flight attendant is arrested and charges are filed, and on the civil side looking at all options," said Llewellyn.