Three Women Sexually Assaulted After American Airlines Ignored Predators History, Lawsuit Claims

A woman who was the victim of an awful inflight sexual assault aboard an American Airlines red eye flight from San Francisco to Dallas Fort Worth claims the carrier did nothing to stop a known predator flying on its planes despite knowing he had a history of alleged sexual misconduct.

In an explosive new lawsuit, the woman says that even after she attempted to alert American Airlines on multiple occasions of the humiliating sexual assault she experienced at the hands of the suspect, he was allowed to continue to fly with the carrier.

The suspect, Cherian Abraham, 54, from Allen, Texas, went on to allegedly sexually two more women aboard American Airlines flights before being arrested and charged with abusive sexual conduct, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.

Barbara Morgan is now suing American Airlines for negligence and fraudulent concealment, along with a slew of other allegations, over the way it treated her and a culture at the Fort Worth-based carrier that “enables sexual predators” and “silences survivors.”

The horrific ordeal that Barbara went through started on April 24, 2024, when she flew with American Airlines on flight AA-2111, an overnight red eye flight from San Francisco to Dallas Fort Worth.

Baraba was traveling with her husband, but American Airlines had split their seat assignments, leaving Barbara sitting in the middle seat next to Abraham without her husband close by.

Despite the fact that there were spare seats onboard, American Airlines refused to allow Barbara and her husband to sit together unless they stumped up an additional $70.

During the flight, and after the lights had been dimmed in the cabin, Abrahams carried out a humiliating sexual assault on Barbara, first rubbing her breasts with his arm before fondling her genitals as she sat frozen, stricken with fear by what was happening.

Unable to get the attention of flight attendants who had disappeared into the galleys, never to emerge into the cabin again, Barbara “endured severe emotional distress” for the remainder of the flight.

Once the plane landed, Barbara went straight to an American Airlines gate agent and reported the assault. Rather than getting the support she so desperately needed, Barbara says the gate agent went straight to “victim blaming” because she had not reported the assault onboard the plane.

The same day, Barbara submitted a formal complaint to American Airlines and followed this up on several occasions, writing to the carrier’s head of customer relations and chasing up her enquiry before finally hearing back from the airline’s security department.

Yet again, however, Barbara says the representative tried to “shift the blame” onto her.

Despite Barbara’s complaint of a serious inflight assault perpetrated by Abraham, American Airlines continued to allow him to travel frequently on its flights. In fact, Barbara’s complaint wasn’t the first one made against Abraham. He had previously been accused of assaulting another female victim on an American Airlines flight in October 2023.

Without any restriction placed on his travel, Abraham went on to allegedly assault a third female victim on an American Airlines flight in March 2025.

The lawsuit, filed recently in a California district court, claims American Airlines has had a long and troubled history dealing with allegations of inflight sexual assault, including a 2017 incident when a woman was allegedly raped inside a lavatory after flight attendants ignored the victim’s requests to stop serving alcohol to her assailant.

Barbara is seeking substantial damages from American Airlines, including punitive and exemplary damages to “deter similar misconduct.”