A United Airlines flight attendant who was subjected to horrific ‘revenge porn’ by her ex-pilot boyfriend, who also worked for the airline, is now suing the Chicago-based carrier because it did not do enough to prevent sexual harassment against its employees.
The shocking details of the flight attendant’s ordeal were made public in July 2024 when it was revealed that Andrew Hill, 37, a United Airlines pilot, had been charged with a slew of crimes, including distribution of pornography, distribution of intimate images, harassment, stalking, and online impersonation.
Several months later, Hill pled guilty to numerous felonies perpetrated against his ex-girlfriend and flight attendant lover, who was forced to quit her dream job after suffering extreme emotional distress, anxiety, and depression.
In her new lawsuit filed in a Colorado district court earlier this week, the ex-flight attendant argues that United failed to train its employees about sexual harassment in the workplace despite knowing that pilots were using their positions to exploit flight attendants.
The flight attendant joined United Airlines in 2015, and a year later, she met Hill while working on a flight. Hill immediately took an interest in her, and the pair started a consensual relationship.
During their relationship, Hill would ask the flight attendant to send him sexually explicit photos and videos of her. He also allegedly secretly recorded them having sex in hotel rooms during work layovers, and covertly took photos of her semi-dressed in her uniform.
In 2017, the flight attendants discovered Hill had been sharing some of these photos and videos on the internet without her knowledge or consent. While the flight attendant wasn’t happy about this, she decided to continue the relationship after Hill promised to remove the images.
Despite being caught up in a relationship “fraught with abusive and manipulative conduct” perpetrated by Hill, the flight attendant continued dating him until 2021 when she discovered he had cheated on her with multiple coworkers.
After ending the relationship, Hill’s behavior allegedly became “increasingly erratic and dangerous.” He would bombard his ex-girlfriend with calls and text messages and then started to stalk her.
When the flight attendant reported Hill’s conduct to police in Utah, they discovered he had been posting intimate, sexual images of her online.
But the police investigation revealed the flight attendant wasn’t the only victim. Hill had also allegedly shared images of 10 other women online, including other United Airlines employees.
Despite efforts to have the images taken down, the victim believes a lot of this material is still online.
In April 2024, a Utah detective served a search warrant on United Airlines to get access to Hill’s work records. United Airlines did not, however, suspend Hill and it was only in July 2024, following his arrest, that the carrier eventually stood him down and eventually terminated his employment.
The lawsuit alleges that United Airlines should be held accountable because it “failed or refused to take reasonably necessary actions to protect flight attendants from harassment while Andrew Hill was employed.”
The complaint adds: “United Airlines created, maintained, fostered, participated in, and/or ratified a hostile work environment in which discriminatory intimidation, offensive conduct, and sexual harassment were permitted to take place.”
Despite a similar case dating all the way back to 2011, in which a United Airlines Captain posted revenge porn online against his ex-flight attendant girlfriend, the carrier allegedly introduced specific training to address sexual harassment in the workplace.
As recently as 2019, Sara Nelson, the president of the Association of Flight Attendants and a United Airlines crew member, said that she had never part in training that addressed how to handle sexual harassment or a sexual assault aboard an aircraft.
United Airlines is yet to respond to the civil complaint, which was filed in the Colorado district court earlier this week under case number: 1:25-cv-03403.
If you’ve been affected by issues raised in this story, help is available. In the U.S., you can contact the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative at 1-844-878-2274 or visit cybercivilrights.org for confidential support and advice on non-consensual image sharing. You can also reach the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or via hotline.rainn.org.
Exactly HOW did United Airlines contribute to her issues? Two consenting adults performed lewd acts or photographed themselves and then one of them posted these photos. If they were in uniform or in any way implied United cooperated in these actions, then United has cause of action against them, not the other way around. Her suit is called “deep pockets”.