- Saturday, May 03, 2025
By: Vibhuti Pathak
American Airlines is facing a federal lawsuit after a woman accused the airline of failing to protect her from a repeat offender with a known history of in-flight sexual misconduct. The man at the center of the case is Cherian Abraham, a Texas-based Indian-American, who now faces multiple allegations of sexually assaulting women during flights.
Barbara Morgan, the plaintiff, has filed the suit in a U.S. District Court, represented by the Chicago-based law firm Romanucci & Blandin. According to court documents, Morgan claims her April 2024 overnight flight from San Francisco to Dallas turned into a traumatic experience when she was seated next to Abraham, a passenger with a track record of inappropriate behavior on other flights.
“He touched me multiple times in the darkened cabin. I shouted at him to stop,” Morgan said in her statement. Despite her protestations, Morgan says the airline crew failed to intervene or take the complaint seriously during or after the incident.
The lawsuit accuses American Airlines of gross negligence for allowing Abraham to board the flight despite his documented history of prior misconduct. The suit alleges that the airline had access to previous complaints against Abraham and should have either banned him from flying or warned other passengers, especially those seated nearby.
After landing, Morgan reported the assault to a gate agent, only to receive what she described as a “dismissive” response. “They asked why I hadn’t spoken up mid-flight and told me to file an online complaint,” she said. Her attempts to escalate the issue by contacting top executives at the airline reportedly yielded only form-letter replies and, eventually, a response that appeared to blame her for not doing more during the incident.
Adding weight to her claims, Abraham was arrested in March 2025 following a separate incident involving similar allegations. In that case, he was accused of groping another woman on a flight from Los Angeles to Chicago. The case also references Morgan’s experience as well as a third alleged assault on a Minneapolis-bound flight in October 2023. According to federal investigators, Abraham’s behavior now reflects “a pattern of predatory behaviour.”
American Airlines did not ban Abraham from flying until after his March 2025 arrest. The airline issued a statement saying, “The safety of our customers and team members is our highest priority. We take this matter very seriously and are working closely with law enforcement on its investigation.”
Abraham has pleaded not guilty, claiming that any physical contact during the flights was “accidental,” according to court filings.
Morgan, however, believes her case highlights a systemic failure within the airline. “The airline could’ve prevented this,” she said. “Instead, they let a known predator sit next to me in the dark.”
