A 23-year-old woman says she was sent a string of texts by a member of staff at an airport who had found her mobile number in 'the system' after she checked in for her Abu Dhabi to Manchester flight.
Hannah Smethurst, originally from Preston, was flying back to Manchester Airport from the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday (June 21), with Etihad Airlines and had checked in her bags and had her passport processed at the front desk.
It was as she was lining up to board the plane home that Hannah says she received the unsettling Whatsapp messages from an unknown number, with the person admitting they had 'searched her in the system'.
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Student paramedic Hannah shared a screenshot of the Whatsapp exchange on Twitter which quickly received over one million views and thousands of shares. Etihad have confirmed the member of staff was hired by a third party contractor.
The first message reads: "Heyy, I have seen u from Abudhabi" before she then asked twice how they had got her number.
"I searched u in system," they replied before adding: "I am working." Hannah went on to ask what system they had retrieved her number from, to which they replied: "Airline. Sorry for the trouble. If I am disturbing u... just block me."
They then sent final message saying: "FYI your flight is boarding."
Hannah said the incident left her feeling 'so vulnerable and scared'. She told the Manchester Evening News: "I checked in like normal, not really taking any notice of the guy at check in, but just a normal polite quick interaction as he checked my bag and gave me my boarding pass.
"I’d been in the airport waiting for roughly three hours and was at my gate waiting to board in the line to get onto the aircraft when I received a Whatsapp from an unknown number.
"So I obviously asked who the number was and the interaction went down as you saw via the screenshot. Obviously when I received these messages and realised it was coming from a member of the airline or airport staff, I honestly just felt so vulnerable.
"I’m fairly young and obviously a girl travelling alone and this man has my number and who knows what other personal details about me. I was really shaken. I just felt so vulnerable and scared."
After Hannah contacted the airline, Etihad Airways said that they have initiated a full investigation into the matter following 'inappropriate conduct by an employee of a third-party contractor' and that the member of staff has been 'disciplined'.
A spokesperson for Etihad Airways said; “Our team have been in contact with the guest and Etihad initiated a full investigation as soon as it was made aware of inappropriate conduct by an employee of a third-party contractor.
"As a result of the investigation, the relevant employee involved has been disciplined in accordance with the contractor’s disciplinary procedures. The privacy and safety of our guests is our number one priority and we sincerely apologise for the distress caused to our guest.”
