Randi Zuckerberg Blasts Alaska Air Crew Response to Accusation Passenger Sexual Harassed Her

Sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says flight attendants brushed off “lewd” behavior by unnamed fellow passenger

Randi Zuckerberg / Alaska Airlines Logo

Former Facebook executive and sister of founder Mark Zuckerberg went public Wednesday night with an accusation she was sexually harassed on a recent Alaska Airlines flight, and that when notified, flight staff did nothing to stop it.

“Feeling disgusted & degraded after an @AlaskaAir flight where the passenger next to me made repeated lewd sexual remarks,” tweeted Zuckerberg, who now heads up lifestyle website Zuckerberg Media. “The flight attendants told me he was a frequent flier, brushed off his behavior & kept giving him drinks. I guess his $ means more than our safety?”

Zuckerberg says she was seated next to an unidentified man in first class on a three hour flight from Los Angeles to Mazatlan, in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Immediately after boarding, the man began making “lewd” comments “about touching himself,” and that he “kept asking me if I fantasized about the female business colleague I was traveling with,” among other comments.

Zuckerberg says she complained to flight attendants, who brushed off her concerns. “Their response was that this guy was a frequent Alaska Airlines on this exact route, and that they have had to talk to him about his behavior in the past,” she said. “But oh well, don’t take it personally, this guy just doesn’t have a filter.”

She says flight attendants later bantered with the other passenger about his behavior, and when pressed only offered to allow her to switch seats. “I’m even more furious with Alaska Airlines for knowingly and willingly providing this man with a platform to harass women,” she added, as well as for “being more concerned with taking his money than for the safety and security of the other passengers around him.”

However, the matter may be resolved soon. Shortly after tweeting her complaint, Zuckerberg followed up to say the airline had reached out to inform her it had suspended the other passenger’s privileges and that it is investigating the matter.

See her original full statement below.

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