Joanna Chiu, newspaper bureau chief of The Star Vancouver and Toronto Star, started a Twitter thread about "airplane creeps" that soon went viral, highlighting a common experience felt by female travelers everywhere.
In the viral thread, Chiu shared a story about a teenage girl harassed by a fellow male passenger on her flight.
She wrote, "I'm on a plane from a late-evening stopover and was very tired and had a row to myself to sleep but couldn't avoid noticing what was going on in the row behind me."
"A man appearing in his late thirties was obviously delighted to be seated next to a teenager separated from the rest of her family. He started off by asking about her career plans and laughed when she said she wanted to be CEO and kept giving her ridiculous advice," she added.
Chiu said the girl was friendly to the talkative stranger, but he took the creepiness to a new level by teasing her and asking her out to dinner multiple times, to which the girl ignored.
"At this point I had to stay awake in case anything went further than that," said Chiu.
Unfortunately, it did.
"It did, and as soon as he asked for a 'dirty' photo while leaning close to her I turned around and rage-whispered exactly what I thought of that and he didn't say anything back and went off to use the washroom," Chiu said.
Chiu wasn't the only one listening in on the inappropriate conversation. Another woman sitting behind the girl told her she should change seats. Chiu informed the flight attendant about the situation and when the man returned to his seat, the flight attendant asked him to move.
"He resisted then started swearing at me and asked to talk to the boss and the head flight attendant said, 'I'm the boss, this is really serious and we could land the plane,'" wrote Chiu.
The man finally changed seats and a report was written up, and while Chiu said the situation was handled well, she was alarmed that only female passengers seemed to notice the inappropriate exchange.
"Maybe fellow women are more likely to pick up on warning signs early on in the conversation because we used to be teenage girls too?" she said.
Chiu shared her own experience of being harassed by an airplane creep as a minor, which once resulted in an older man kissing her without her consent. That experience and the one she witnessed is something she doesn't want other women or young girls to have to go through.
"All adults need to be on guard and know there are things we can do to intervene even when a crime hadn't technically been committed yet," she said. "Men need to figure out how to 'spot creeps' in their vicinity as well and men can help too to prevent harassment or assault."
As of March 26, Chiu's tweet has received 146,000 likes and 71,000 retweets, sparking another wide conversation about female travelers and harassment.
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