2 women sue Frontier Airlines over alleged sex assaults by passengers

DENVER —  Two women who say they were sexually assaulted by passengers on Frontier Airlines flights sued the Denver budget carrier for allegedly refusing to help them and either not having or failing to follow policies to respond to assaults.

The class-action lawsuit was filed Dec. 16 by two Denver residents and was first reported by the Denver Post on Tuesday. The Associated Press does not normally name people who have been sexually assaulted.

One woman said she was sexually assaulted by a man on a flight from Denver to Providence, R.I., on or about Oct. 20, 2018, and was not allowed to change her seat afterward while the other said she was sexually assaulted by a man on a Denver to Florida flight on or about Nov. 30, 2018. Both say they reported the assaults to flight attendants, who did not report them to anyone else and did not request that law enforcement meet the planes.

Frontier spokeswoman Jennifer F. de la Cruz said she could not comment on pending litigation but also said “the safety of our passengers and crew members is our No. 1 priority at Frontier Airlines and we have strict policies in place to proactively and appropriately respond to reports of misconduct and alleged crimes.”

The lawsuit seeks to represent any other passengers who were sexually assaulted on Frontier flights from Dec. 16, 2017, to the present.

The lawsuit notes that the FBI issued a warning in 2018 that the number of sexual assaults by passengers reported on commercial flights has been increasing “at an alarming rate.”