‘Sickening’: Charlotte dad seeks answers after daughter finds camera in plane bathroom

CHARLOTTE — A Charlotte father is seeking answers after his 14-year-old daughter found a camera in the bathroom of their American Airlines flight on Sept. 2 from Charlotte to Boston. Channel 9 is not identifying the father. The FBI has opened an investigation.

The father says it all started when his daughter tried to use the coach bathroom but it was occupied. He says the lone male flight attendant told her she could use the first-class bathroom instead.

“Before she can go in, he stops her and says, ‘Hang on. I need to go in and wash my hands. We’re about to start collecting garbage.’ Which is odd. In retrospect, it’s just a strange thing to say,” the father said. “When he came out, he told her ‘The toilet seat is broken. We’re going to fix it when we get back to Charlotte. Don’t worry about it.’ And so, she didn’t think very much of what she saw when she then went in after he left.”

He says she went in and saw the red sticker tape saying the seat was broken and then went to the bathroom.

“When she turned around to flush the toilet afterwards, she realized that there was there was a phone taped underneath that tape,” he said.

Before leaving the bathroom, she took the photo of the camera. Her dad says the flight attendant went inside the bathroom again as soon she left, and the camera was removed.

Meanwhile, she took the picture of the camera and showed it to her mom who showed it to a different flight attendant.

Once he saw the photo, he went to the back of the plane and confronted a group of four flight attendants, including the male who entered the bathroom.

“I remember distinctly when I showed the picture to him, his face went white. White as a sheet. I’ve never seen anything like that before,” he said. “It was noticeable. Stark.”

Once the plane landed, he says law enforcement met the plane and escorted the flight attendant off. He says his daughter was shown a phone by the FBI and she identified it as the one that was in the bathroom.

“When you look at that photograph, it’s obvious that is meant to film, and this is not just voyeurism. This is targeting a child and on an airplane by someone who is charged with keeping everybody on the plane safe,” he said.

He says his daughter is shaken up by the incident but he is proud of how she handled it. He’s angry this happened and is worried there may be other victims.

“If a flight attendant gives you an instruction, it’s federal law. You have to do what they tell you to do,” he said. For someone to violate that trust, in a way that targets a child, is sickening.”

A spokesperson for FBI Boston declined to comment.

A spokesperson for American Airlines declined to say whether the flight attendant is still employed, citing the active investigation.

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