Lawsuit accuses JetBlue pilots of drugging, raping female flight attendants

Two JetBlue flight pilots have been accused of drugging three female flight attendants and raping two of them during a Puerto Rico layover, according to a new lawsuit filed this week in a New York federal court.

The lawsuit, filed anonymously by two crew members referred to as Jane Doe, claims the women went down to the beach in San Juan in May, after checking into their hotel, The Washington Post reported Friday. 

They said they met two JetBlue pilots on the beach whom they previously did not know.

{mosads}The lawsuit alleges one pilot offered Jane Doe 1 an open beer can from his lunch box, which the lawsuit claims was “laced with a drug.” She drank some before unknowingly passing the can to the other two women.

From that moment on, “the rest of the night became a blur,” the lawsuit states.

Jane Doe 1 alleges that while in a “haze from being drugged,” she discovered herself in bed with the pilot and the third crew member, and he was raping her.

“Plaintiff was unable to react to the situation, but was simply aware that it was happening,” the suit says. “Plaintiff’s flashes of memory included [the pilot] having sexual intercourse with the other crew member who was also under the influence of the drugs.”

The accused pilot allegedly told the women later on, “Thank you for making my fantasy come true.”

The second pilot is accused of taking part during the alleged drugging but left after getting scratched, the suit noted.

Jane Doe 2 states in the lawsuit that she believes the pilots changed their minds about raping her when she “began vomiting which was a turnoff.”

The women described feeling “groggy” and “extremely nauseous” the next morning and talked to each other about the night before.

The women are seeking unspecified damages for discrimination, assault and battery and aggravated sexual abuse, among other claims.

During their next flight, they “were all nauseous and each had to use the bathroom to vomit.” 

“The three of them looked up the symptoms of rape drugs and found their symptoms were consistent with having been drugged,” the filing said, noting they felt the effects after drinking from the pilot’s beer.

Jane Doe 1 went to the hospital and reported her sexual assault after returning home from Utah.

She says she was previously STD-free but that she tested positive for human papillomavirus, or HPV.

The 24-page suit names JetBlue and the two pilots. It claims that the airline failed to take any “corrective action” after the women reported the alleged assaults, as well as sex and gender discrimination, to the JetBlue corporate offices in New York.

JetBlue said in a statement to The Hill that it “cannot comment on pending litigation” but “takes allegations of violent or inappropriate behavior very seriously and investigates such claims thoroughly.”

“They feel like this is a large part of what airline culture is. It lends itself to these sorts of issues,” one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, Abe Melamed, told The New York Times.

—Updated at 4:02 p.m.