A Southwest flight attendant claims two pilots were livestreaming footage from the airplane’s bathroom onto an iPad in the cockpit in a lawsuit against the company.
The federal lawsuit was filed for the District of Arizona alleges that Arizona based flight attendant, Renee Steinaker, discovered the alleged act in February 2017.
The incident is said to have occurred on Flight 1088 between Pittsburgh and Phoenix.
Arizona Republic reports that a little over two hours into the flight, pilot Capt. Terry Graham asked Steinaker, 43, to come to the cockpit so he could use the restroom.
A Southwest Airlines flight attendant claims she caught two pilots livestreaming footage from the plane bathroom onto an iPad in the cockpit
Southwest Airline policy requires at least two crew members be present in the cockpit at all times.
When Steinaker entered the cockpit, she allegedly saw an iPad mounted on a windshield near Graham’s seat.
The lawsuit says it was playing a livestream of the plane’s lavatory and Steinaker could see what appeared to be Graham inside the bathroom.
She asked the co-pilot Ryan Russell, who was also in the cockpit, to confirm the iPad’s footage.
The lawsuit says: ‘Plaintiff Renee Steinaker immediately asked Russel whether the iPad was “live streaming” from the camera in the forward lavatory. Russell admitted that it was live streaming.’
‘Russell advised Plaintiff Renee Steinaker that there was a camera in the lavatory and that it was hidden so that no on would ever find it.’
‘Russell directed Plaintiff Renee Steinaker not to tell anyone about the camera or the recordings because they were on the “downlow”.’
Russell told Steinaker that the cameras were new and that all Southwest Airlines’ 737-800s had them.
The lawsuit alleges that co-pilot Ryan Russell told Steinaker that the cameras were ‘hidden so that no on would ever find it’
The lawsuit accuses Southwest Airlines of retaliating against Steinaker and other crew members for coming forward with the allegations, including stalking and ‘random’ drug tests
Steinaker’s attorney Ronald L.M. Goldman told Arizona Republic that the pilots revealed she and others had been recorded.
‘They led her to believe that she and others had been filmed — had been videotaped if you will — while they were using the lavatory. It’s really hard to imagine a more outrageous kind of conduct,’ he said.
In response, Steinaker took a photo of the iPad with her phone to document the incident and showed fellow attendants the alleged evidence.
Steinaker and other crew members reported the incident to the airline, but were reportedly told not to talk about the incident.
‘If this got out, if this went public,’ an official allegedly said, ‘no one, I mean no one, would ever fly our airline again.’
Graham and Russell were permitted to continue onto their next flight and are currently still flying with the company.
In addition to that claim, the lawsuit says the pilots violated airline protocol and ‘disembarked, leaving the aircraft unattended by piloting staff.’
Graham is also accused of leaving ‘a loaded firearm unattended in the cockpit, a violation of FAA regulations.’
Southwest Airlines denied having cameras inside airplane bathrooms in a statement to Arizona Republic
David Steinaker, Renee’s husband and fellow Southwest flight attendant, claim that they are the victims of retaliation after going to airline officials.
The say the airline ‘engaged in a pattern of retaliation and monitoring efforts to silence and intimidate’ the couple and other crew members.
They say they were stalked, faced in increase in performance audits and were given ‘random’ drug and alcohol testing.
Goldman said: ‘In my view, Southwest Airlines has treated this as “how dare they report it” rather than “thank you for letting us know”.’
‘In my opinion as an aviation lawyer with many years of experience, this does compromise the safety of flight and the safety of passengers, not even to mention for the potential of violating the privacy of all of the passengers as well as the crew.’
Southwest Airlines released a statement to Arizona Republic denying that their planes have cameras in the bathrooms.
It said: ‘The safety and security of our employees and customers is Southwest’s uncompromising priority. As such, Southwest does not place cameras in the lavatories of our aircraft. At this time, we have no other comment on the pending litigation.’
Thus far, both pilots have denied the claims.