Flight security

Sex assaults on planes rise at 'an alarming rate' — and are likely undercounted

Sexual assaults on flights are increasing “at an alarming rate,” FBI Special Agent David Rodski told reporters last week. “We’re not sure why.”

The FBI investigated 63 reports of sexual assault on planes last year, a 66 percent increase from the 38 investigated in 2014, Rodski said. The spike may have been driven in part by more people reporting the crime, but the latest figure still likely represents just a fraction of such incidents, since assault victims often choose not to come forward. And even if they do, there's no regulatory agency that comprehensively tracks the reports.

In the latest incident to make the news, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker's son, Andrew “A.J.” Baker, was accused last weekend of groping a female passenger during a JetBlue flight from Washington to Boston. Police are investigating but did not immediately charge Baker, who denies the allegation.

The victims aren’t just passengers, but flight attendants as well, according to a recent survey conducted for the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA union, which found that more than two-thirds of its members have experienced in-air sexual harassment.