Two airline pilots allegedly drugged three crewmembers during a layover, with one pilot accused of raping two of the women in the same bed, according to a lawsuit.
The pilots and crew work for the US cut-price carrier JetBlue and the alleged incident is said to have taken place during a layover in Puerto Rico.
The lawsuit, as outlined by USA Today, was filed in Brooklyn by two of the crew members concerned, each of whom is referred to in the writ as “Jane Doe”. The suit names two male pilots and the airline as respondents.
Jane Doe is a generic name used in legal proceedings to denote a female person whose true name is being intentionally concealed or is unknown.
The lawsuit alleges that the two pilots, who are named, gave three of their JetBlue colleagues an open beer on the beach outside the Intercontinental Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on 9 May 2018. The plaintiffs contend the beer contained a date rape drug.
“After that point, the rest of the night became a blur for Doe # 1, Doe # 2 and the other crew member,” the lawsuit states.
The first pilot is accused of raping two crewmembers in the same bed. The first victim is claimed to have been Jane Doe 1 and the other was the third crewmember, who is not named and is not a party to the lawsuit.
The first pilot is alleged to have said “thank you for making my fantasy come true” after the incident.
The second pilot is accused of participating in the alleged drugging but leaving the scene “after having been scratched”.
The next morning, feeing “groggy and numb,” all three crew members were nauseous and had to use the bathroom to vomit on their return flight to Newark Airport, the suit contends.
“The three of them then looked up the symptoms of rape drugs and found their symptoms were consistent with having been drugged, and that they all began feeling those symptoms and effects right after drinking from the defendants’ beer,” the lawsuit states.
Jane Doe 1 also claims the first pilot “intentionally” gave her the sexually transmitted disease HPV (human papillomavirus).
The women claim JetBlue failed to take corrective action against the pilots. They seek unspecified damages from the airline and pilots “to be determined at the time of trial”.
The lawsuit comes after a separate case which also involved the pilot of a US airline and drug-and-rape allegations. In that one, Alaska Airlines fired a senior pilot after a female co-pilot sued the airline, alleging that the captain had drugged and raped her during a June 2017 work trip. The sacked pilot has now hit back, filing a lawsuit of his own against his accuser and the carrier. The captain, who flew for Alaska for 22 years, claims he was wrongfully sacked amid “false #MeToo claims” in a “negligent, flawed investigation”.
The former Alaska Airlines pilot alleges the woman’s claims are false, that they defamed him, invaded his privacy, wrecked his life and career and caused him severe distress.
Written by Peter Neddham
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