Van Meir also reported the incident to Virgin and tweeted the airline, asking it to “take measures to prevent this from happening by flagging specific language and putting in place a reporting function on the chat to report abusive users”.

Several women have replied to the Twitter thread sharing uncomfortable stories of bad experiences on planes.

One woman wrote: “Once I was seated next to a man who kept offering me chocolate in between looking at dick pics he sent his girlfriend. It was awful! He also ‘accidentally’ touched me via the arm rest a few times. Anyway, I’m so sorry this happened to you! I’ve often wondered about how these chat functions could be abused. It’s awful someone had to experience it for airlines to notice.”

But something that is just as disappointing as the behaviour of the men on the plane are some of the reactions on Twitter of other men who fail to understand why this is a problem.

A few opted for full blown misogyny, like one man who wrote: “OMG can’t women handle simple male interactions these days? Feeling unsafe from a few words. I’d be happy they found you attractive enough to try and communicate with you. But nope, had to make a drama about it.”

Others used an ever-so-slightly subtler tactic to show that they didn’t have any comprehension of what Van Meir’s experience was like, including one Twitter user who wrote: “It’s grossly inappropriate that people can send you words like that on a public board – which is definitely a question for Virgin.

“However whilst cringe worthy and very clumsy the guy or girl were trying their luck because they thought you looked nice. Not sure sexual harassment.”

Not sexual harassment coming from someone with the username ‘big dick swinger’? Hmm…

Woman expertly schools drunk rugby team who sexually harassed her on a flight