2026年2月15日 / 美国东部时间晚上8:39 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
2023年9月，从芝加哥飞往佛罗里达的航班上，蕾妮·索洛弗拉（Renee Solofra）感觉自己被困在中间座位上。她说，坐在过道座位上的男子明显喝醉了，身上散发着酒精味，在继续饮酒的过程中对她实施了性侵。
“我已经被人抓住了后颈，手也被抓了，手机被对方抢走，我不得不从他那里夺回。”她说，“飞机即将降落时，我当时双臂交叉放在腿上，闭上眼睛，心想‘终于要着陆了’。就在那时，他抓住了我的胸部。”
索洛弗拉回忆说，当她终于下飞机并向登机口工作人员报告袭击事件时，自己崩溃大哭。她对袭击者丹尼尔·麦卡德姆斯（Daniel McAdams）提起诉讼，后者承认了殴打罪。
“这影响了我的工作，改变了我的生活。我害怕坐飞机旅行，”索洛弗拉告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，“我必须努力让自己的声音被听见，而我接受的心理咨询和治疗次数——我这辈子从未接受过心理治疗。这彻底颠覆了我的生活。”
哥伦比亚广播公司新闻调查发现，联邦调查局（FBI）在2024年调查了超过170起类似的乘客袭击其他乘客的案件。这一数字较前一年的约130起有显著上升。虽然这只是每年数百万航空旅客中的一小部分，但调查发现这一数字急剧增加。令人担忧的是，这些案件可能被严重低估，航空业和相关部门并未积极追踪空中性侵事件。
蕾妮·索洛弗拉向哥伦比亚广播公司新闻讲述了自己在航班上被邻座男子骚扰的经历。哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
联邦调查局此前并未准备好这些数据，直到哥伦比亚广播公司新闻提出申请。由于部分案件由当地机场警方处理，而他们不会公开报告具体数字，因此很难确切知晓还有多少人经历了与索洛弗拉相似的遭遇。
哥伦比亚广播公司新闻的调查发现，许多此类事件发生在长途或国际航班上，通常在夜间，且袭击者往往已经饮酒。
“如今的空中旅客面临着更多可能增加其脆弱性的因素，”国际空姐协会（Association of Flight Attendants）主席萨拉·纳尔逊（Sara Nelson）表示。
她回忆道：“过去，飞机上有很多空位，座位之间距离较远，彼此视线清晰，空乘人员能及时观察到情况。而且当时飞机上的空乘人员更多，我们可以在客舱内走动，密切关注情况。”
“讽刺的是，现在客舱里‘眼睛’更多了，但座位间距更小，排与排之间视线受阻，目击者很难发现这类行为，”她解释道。
联邦调查局和航空业表示，他们高度重视这一威胁，并会彻底调查所有指控。
“空乘人员往往是收到报告的人，”纳尔逊本人也曾在航班上遭受过性侵，她告诉哥伦比亚广播公司新闻，“报告会提交到航班目的地。如果在这个流程中的任何环节有人将其轻描淡写为‘没什么大不了’，那么就无法进行必要的问责回应。”
为了加强问责，蕾妮·索洛弗拉已对美国航空公司提起诉讼。
美国航空公司发言人在一份声明中表示：“我们始终将客户和员工的安全与保障放在首位。目前，我们无法就正在进行的诉讼发表评论。”
总部位于芝加哥的罗马奇与布兰丁律师事务所（Romaucci and Blandin）代表包括索洛弗拉在内的约十几名女性，她们声称在飞机上遭受了性侵。
“可悲的是，人们不知道这类事件持续发生，”该律师事务所合伙人黛西·阿约恩（Daisy Ayllón）说。
阿约恩认为，信息共享是解决这一问题的关键。
“目前没有任何系统要求航空公司上报具体数字，”她说，“联邦调查局掌握的数据仅来自那些决定站出来并报案的受害者。但我们知道还有更多受害者，因为航空公司会收到这些投诉，然后直接与乘客沟通，却不向联邦调查局报告这些数据。因此，信息存在诸多缺口。”
索洛弗拉敦促乘客及时报告性侵事件。她希望航空公司也能向当局和公众通报相关数据，让人们了解这一风险。
“沉默只会保护施暴者，”她说，“必须进行改革，我们不会停止斗争，直到改革实现。”
安娜·谢克特（Anna Schecter）对本文亦有贡献。
Sexual assaults on airplanes are up, and likely underreported, a CBS News investigation finds
February 15, 2026 / 8:39 PM EST / CBS News
Renee Solofra felt trapped in the middle seat on a flight from Chicago to Florida in September 2023. She said the man sitting next to her in the aisle seat was visibly intoxicated, smelled of alcohol and continued to drink before sexually assaulting her.
“I already had the back of my neck grabbed; I had my hand grabbed; I’d had my cellphone taken out of my hand and had to take it back from the individual,” she said. “We were close to landing and at that point in time, I had crossed my arms on my lap, closed my eyes and was just thinking to myself, ‘we’re finally going to land.’ And that’s when he grabbed my breast.”
Solofra recalled breaking down in tears when she was finally able to get off the plane and report the assault to the gate agent. She pressed charges against her aggressor, Daniel McAdams, who pleaded guilty to battery.
“It affected my job, it affected my life. I was scared to travel,” Solofra told CBS News. “I had to try to have my voice heard, and the amounts of counseling and therapy that I’ve gone through — and I’ve never gone through therapy before in my life. It turned my world upside down.”
A CBS News investigation found the FBI investigated more than 170 similar cases of passengers assaulting other passengers on flights in 2024. That’s up from about 130 the year before. It’s a small fraction of the millions of air travelers each year, but CBS News found that number is up sharply. There’s fear the cases are widely underreported, and the airline industry and authorities aren’t aggressively tracking in-air assaults.
Renee Solofra spoke with CBS News about being grabbed by a man sitting next to her on a flight. CBS News
The FBI didn’t have some of these figures readily available until CBS News requested them. Since some cases are handled by local airport police, who don’t publicly report numbers, it’s difficult to know just how many others experienced what Solofra suffered.
CBS News’ examination found many of the incidents happen on long distance or international flights, often at night and often when the attacker has consumed alcohol.
There are conditions facing air travelers today that may increase vulnerability, according to Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants.
In the past, she said, “There were a lot of open seats; seats also were not as close together and you had a line of sight and flight attendants could see. There were more of us [flight attendants] on planes, too. We could walk through and keep an eye on the cabin.”
“Today, actually, ironically, with more eyes literally in the cabin, but closer together and no line of sight between the rows, it’s difficult for witnesses to see this,” she said.
The FBI and the airline industry said they take the threat seriously, and thoroughly look into all claims.
“Flight attendants are often the ones getting the report,” Nelson, who said she herself has been a victim of sexual assault on a flight, told CBS News.
She explained the report goes to the flight’s destination.
“Anywhere in that chain, if someone dismisses it as ‘no big deal,’ there’s not the kind of response that’s necessary to have accountability,” Nelson said.
To get more accountability, Renee Solofra has filed a lawsuit against American Airlines.
A spokesperson for American wrote in a statement: “The safety and security of our customers and team members remains our top priority. At this time, we are unable to comment on active litigation.”
The law firm Romaucci and Blandin represents about a dozen women, including Solofra, who say they’ve been sexually assaulted on airplanes.
“The sad thing about this is that people don’t know that this is happening consistently,” said Daisy Ayllón, a partner at the Chicago-based firm.
Ayllón believes information sharing would go a long way to tackling this issue.
“There is no system currently that requires the airlines to actually report the numbers,” she said. “So, the numbers that the FBI has, those numbers are exclusively from victims who are deciding to come forward and they’re making a report. But we know that there’s more victims out there because the airlines receive those complaints. The airlines are speaking to the passengers directly, and the airlines are not reporting those numbers to the FBI. So there are a lot of gaps in information.”
Solofra is urging passengers to report assaults promptly. She hopes airlines will also report numbers to authorities, and the public, so people will know the risk.
“Silence only protects the aggressor,” she said. “There needs to be reform and we’re not going to stop until that reform happens.”
Anna Schecter contributed to this report.