A flight attendant working in first class recently discovered a passenger had photographed her without consent, sparking a massive conversation about workplace safety 30,000 feet up. Flight attendant Danika (@flywithdanika) shared her frustrating experience in a video on TikTok, detailing how she caught the passenger sending the unwanted photo in a text exchange.
Danika was serving pre-departure drinks in the first-class cabin and getting ready for the safety demonstration when she noticed a male passenger holding his phone in a suspicious way. As someone who grew up with phones, she knows exactly when a camera is pointed at her. She explains in her video, “They think that they’re so sneaky. But being in a generation that was raised around phones, we know when the camera’s pointed at us.”
Her suspicions were confirmed during the safety demonstration, which flight attendants perform first in the front of the plane before walking through the main cabin. Danika says that as she walked by, she glanced over and saw a picture of her on the man’s phone. It was displayed big on his screen, confirming her fears. Here’s an airline tip, don’t take pictures of your stewardess without permission.
Don’t take pictures of people without their consent
What happened next made the situation even worse. As she continued the demonstration, she noticed he had texted the picture to a friend. She could see the “exchange of messages” clearly, mostly because the font was gigantic. Danika joked that the font was “like size 50 because he’s old. Surprise, surprise.” This is truly awful for her. She was just trying to do her job, and now her image is being shared without permission. We’ve seen videos of people on the airplane, but these aren’t secret recordings.
Danika stated, “It just makes me so uncomfortable.” She emphasized that she is in her workplace and while some people might think this kind of behavior is flattering, it absolutely isn’t. She genuinely likes to introduce herself and be personable, but incidents like this make her feel weird and uncomfortable. This isn’t an isolated incident either; she said it happens enough times now, usually when she is working first class, that she is trying to figure out the best way to handle these situations.
@flywithdanika How would you handle this? :/ #flightattendant #cabincrew #advice #flightattendantlife #aviation
♬ original sound – Danika
This is the core problem that makes air travel unique: the confined nature of the space creates a huge predicament. It’s not like working in a bar or store where you can just tell the person to leave. As Danika points out, “We’re stuck on a plane.” While other crew members have offered to step in and confront passengers on her behalf, Danika worries about the aftermath.
If she asks someone to delete the photo, she still has to spend the next two hours serving them drinks and being in close proximity. That would just create an extremely awkward and uncomfortable working environment for her. She feels torn between wanting the photos deleted and avoiding a confrontation that could make the rest of the flight miserable. Danika’s feelings are totally valid; she deserves to feel comfortable at work and be able to do her job without people being creepy.
Unfortunately, Danika’s experience is part of a much wider problem affecting flight attendants across the entire industry. This isn’t just about unwanted photography; it’s about persistent harassment. The statistics are shocking. A survey by the Association of Flight Attendants found that a staggering 70% of flight attendants report experiencing sexual harassment while in the air. Nearly one in five say they have been sexually assaulted. The FBI also reports that sexual assaults on commercial flights are rising, jumping from 38 incidents in 2014 to 63 in 2017.
