Teenager recalls fear after man seated next to her on plane allegedly searched ‘sex on plane’ pornography

‘For the entire flight I was upset and scared’

A teenager has described the fear she felt for her safety after a passenger seated beside her on a recent flight began watching pornography.

Melanie Scholfield, 19, recounted the incident, which reportedly saw her relocated to a first class seat on the plane, in a video posted to TikTok, where she goes by the username @a1iengir1.

In the video, Scholfield, who said she would prefer not to identify the airline, could be seen sitting in what appeared to be the first seat on the plane. In the text caption, she wrote: “When the old man you’re sitting next to on the plane starts watching plane porn so you tell the flight attendants and now you’re sitting first class.”

In the caption, she said that she “only cried for like 10 minutes”.

While speaking to The Independent, Scholfield said that the encounter began shortly after she had located her seat on the plane, at which point she found herself seated next to an older man.

“I got on the plane and found my seat. It was the window seat and there were only two seats in each row,” she said. “There was an old man sitting in the aisle seat of my row. I politely asked him to move so that I could sit in my seat. We both sat down and immediately he took up as much space as possible.”

According to Scholfield, the man’s behaviour, which she said made it seem as if he were trying to touch her, made her “uncomfortable”.

“He used both armrests so that I didn’t have one and forced me to be squished against the side of the plane. I began to feel unsafe and scared, so I started analysing him,” she recalled.

Scholfield then claimed that the passenger seated beside her began to search for pornograhy on his phone, with the 19 year old continuing: “Within five seconds of looking at him, I notice he is typing on his phone ‘sex on a plane’. And he begins watching pornography of people having sex on a plane.”

In a follow-up video shared to TikTok, Scholfield said she “knew” that the man’s internet search had had to do with her.

“Which I know, which I know, had something to do with the fact that I was sitting next to him, because I’m a young, attractive female, and he’s a creep,” she said.

According to the teenager, at this point, she “immediately panicked” and got up from her seat so that she could alert flight attendants, who she said weren’t sure how to handle the situation at first.

“At first, they didn’t know what to do and had me wait,” she said, adding that the airline employees then asked her what she wanted to do, at which point she expressed a desire to be seated elsewhere.

After the flight attendants retrieved her bags from her former seat, Scholfield said that she was seated in first class, where she was offered beverages and snacks.

While she was removed from her previous seat, the teenager said that the encounter left her “upset and scared” for the entire flight. “But I’m grateful the flight attendants helped me and that I was able to get out of an unsafe situation,” she said.

As for how the airline handled the other passenger, Scholfield said that she doesn’t think the man was “removed from the flight” and she’s “not sure he got any punishment whatsoever”.

On TikTok, where her original video has been viewed more than 529,000 times, many viewers have shared their horror over the story. “Omg that’s scary,” one person commented, while another viewer said: “Proud of you for speaking up. That’s traumatic.”

“I’m so sorry, I hope you are okay and safe,” someone else added.

While Scholfield received many supportive comments, she told The Independent that she also received a number of comments from viewers who victim-blamed her for the incident.

“A lot of people supported me in the video comments, but a lot of men were victim-blaming me and telling me I am overly sensitive and that I should not have been scared,” she said, adding that other TikTok users have been coming to her defence in response to the comments.

Ultimately, Scholfield said she was glad that she was able to remove herself from the situation.

“I’m glad I was able to remove myself from the situation, who knows what would have happened if I stayed there,” she said on TikTok.