Barno alerted the flight attendant who her attorney says was helpful and supportive, and the man who had been messaging her was escorted off the place first so that she didn’t have to interact with him.

Now, Barno says her mental health has been affected and she has had difficulty socialising, eating and sleeping. Speaking to CNN, her attorney Joe Samo says: “Basically, after this happened, her sense of privacy is heightened, her concern about who has her number and now she is concerned when she has to give it out. She is nervous when she is alone and has to travel for work.”

Although distressed, this hasn’t stopped Barno from taking action. Not only is she suing the American Airlines employee (who is unnamed in the lawsuit) over the encounter for sexual harassment, stalking and intentional infliction of emotional distress. But she’s also suing the airline for negligent hiring, supervision and retention, as well as intentional infliction of emotional distress.

As well as the texts detailed above, Barno’s case also alleges that he continued to send her aggressive, sexual messages and images with sexual content. And that this wasn’t the first time he had obtained a woman’s number without her knowing and sent her unwanted messages.

Barno’s experience sounds traumatising, but unfortunately, it’s not surprising. It is however, encouraging that she’s taking action, something that we are becoming more equipped to do in the UK as upskirting, misogyny and cat calling have been, or are on the way to being, criminalised.

A woman is suing an airline after one of its employees stole her number, stalked and harassed her