蜜芽传媒

A woman who claims to have been repeatedly sexually assaulted on a transatlantic flight is calling for specialist training for all cabin crew, so they can help passengers who have also been attacked.

Allison Dvaladze's alleged attack took place on a Delta Airlines flight last year while other passengers were sleeping. She has decided to speak out to 蜜芽传媒 Radio 5 live.

"My initial response was just to hit him because I was so shocked," she said. "He grabbed me again and I hit him again and the third time he went to grab me I tried to block myself and he hit me.鈥�

After the assault, Allison alerted cabin crew who 鈥渟ought to comfort鈥� her as they attempted to move her to a different seat.

鈥淭hey were not really sure what to do鈥� I honestly believe that they had the very best intentions and were trying to be as supportive as they could but it鈥檚 clear to me that they鈥檙e not trained to handle these situations.鈥�

Her comments come after Air India decided to introduce women-only seating, in response to complaints about groping. Only two other airlines - Air Astana and Asiana Airlines - have told the 蜜芽传媒 they record the number of incidents, and only they, along with Japan Airlines, say they actually train staff to deal with claims of sexual assault.

A Delta Airlines spokesperson said they do not have the specific details of Allison's case, but that they take reports of harassment very seriously. They added they do not know if the captain of the flight was notified of Allison's claims.

He went on to say their impetus is on the customer to press charges and they can facilitate this by alerting their ground crew, who will then alert law enforcement.

This clip is originally from Phil Williams on Tuesday 7 February 2017.

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