22 June 2023 , 16:15
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A solo female traveller has shared how she was left 'terrified' by an airline staff member when checking in for her flight from Abu Dhabi to Manchester.
Hannah Smethurst, 23, was returning home from a week's holiday during the early hours of Wednesday 21 June, when she received 'creepy' text messages.
An unnamed man, who the airline now says has received disciplinary action, found Hannah's personal contact details on their database after seeing her passport.
The third-year paramedic student, from Lancashire, panicked when he proceeded to message her on WhatsApp, saying that he had seen her waiting to board.
The 22-year-old was travelling home alone from Abu Dhabi to Manchester on Wednesday (@hansmeths)
The airport staff member had taken her details from the database after seeing her passport (@hansmeths)"I was at Abu Dhabi Airport when I received a text message from an unknown foreign number. I was taken aback by it. It was terrifying being alone," Hannah told the Mirror.
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The first message read: "Heyyyy, I have seen you from abudhabi [smiley face emoji]", to which Hannah replied: "How did you get this number?"
The man responded, "Sorryyy," to which Hannah asked again, "How did you get my number?", and then he admitted: "I searched u in the system."
Hannah asked him to specify which system, "The hotel or airline?" to which he replied: "Airline. Sorry for the trouble. If I am disturbing u.... just block me."
He then added: "FYI ur flight is boarding", which caused the young woman to panic about who would be on her plane to Manchester.
Hannah was scared to get on the flight as she feared the 'creepy' male would be onboard (@hansmeths)
Hannah felt vulnerable being alone and has been put off solo travelling now (@hansmeths)"I was waiting in the line to board the plane and I spoke to one of the ground managers to check that it wasn't a crew member that was going to be on my flight," she explained.
"I was nervous that they could've been on the plane. They told me it wasn't anybody on the flight, but if I wanted to make a formal complaint, I'd have to be taken off the flight.
"They were quite rushed because the plane was boarding. Then I got back to Manchester and spoke to the crew there, who were horrified.
"I contacted Etihad Airways and they've got back to me to say it was the male who checked me in at the airport. He used the airline system to get my phone number.
"He has lost his job. I'm glad he was fired because I don't want him to do it to other girls. At the time, I felt so vulnerable, especially being alone."
Hannah, who had flown out to visit a friend in Abu Dhabi, is relieved to be home safe and has been put off returning alone.
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Etihad Airways has fired the member of staff and apologised for the distress caused (stock photo) (Bloomberg via Getty Images)"It's completely put me off travelling alone and I definitely won't use Etihad again," she said.
The student, who celebrated her 23rd birthday today, shared a screenshot of the text message conversation on Twitter, which has gone viral.
"This is so unbelievably creepy," one person said, while another wrote: "This is truly shocking and very very scary."
Some Twitter-users said they had been contacted before by airline staff if they were late to board, however this wasn't the case with Hannah, who was already queuing.
An Etihad spokesperson told the Mirror: "Our team have been in contact with the guest and Etihad initiated a full investigation as soon as it was made aware of inappropriate conduct by an employee of a third-party contractor.
"As a result of the investigation, the relevant employee involved has been disciplined in accordance with the contractor's disciplinary procedures.
"The privacy and safety of our guests is our number one priority and we sincerely apologise for the distress caused to our guest."