Renee Solofra felt trapped in the middle seat on a flight from Chicago to Florida in September 2023. She said the man sitting next to her in the aisle seat was visibly intoxicated, smelled of alcohol and continued to drink before sexually assaulting her.

“I already had the back of my neck grabbed; I had my hand grabbed; I’d had my cellphone taken out of my hand and had to take it back from the individual,” she said. “We were close to landing and at that point in time, I had crossed my arms on my lap, closed my eyes and was just thinking to myself, ‘we’re finally going to land.’ And that’s when he grabbed my breast.”

Solofra recalled breaking down in tears when she was finally able to get off the plane and report the assault to the gate agent. She pressed charges against her aggressor, Daniel McAdams, who pleaded guilty to battery. 

“It affected my job, it affected my life. I was scared to travel,” Solofra told CBS News. “I had to try to have my voice heard, and the amounts of counseling and therapy that I’ve gone through — and I’ve never gone through therapy before in my life. It turned my world upside down.”

A CBS News investigation found the FBI investigated more than 170 similar cases of passengers assaulting other passengers on flights in 2024. That’s up from about 130 the year before. It’s a small fraction of the millions of air travelers each year, but CBS News found that number is up sharply. There’s fear the cases are widely underreported, and the airline industry and authorities aren’t aggressively tracking in-air assaults. 

The FBI didn’t have some of these figures readily available until CBS News requested them. Since some cases are handled by local airport police, who don’t publicly report numbers, it’s difficult to know just how many others experienced what Solofra suffered.

CBS News’ examination found many of the incidents happen on long distance or international flights, often at night and often when the attacker has consumed alcohol. 

There are conditions facing air travelers today that may increase vulnerability, according to Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants.

In the past, she said, “There were a lot of open seats; seats also were not as close together and you had a line of sight and flight attendants could see. There were more of us [flight attendants] on planes, too. We could walk through and keep an eye on the cabin.”

“Today, actually, ironically, with more eyes literally in the cabin, but closer together and no line of sight between the rows, it’s difficult for witnesses to see this,” she said.

The FBI and the airline industry said they take the threat seriously, and thoroughly look into all claims.

“Flight attendants are often the ones getting the report,” Nelson, who said she herself has been a victim of sexual assault on a flight, told CBS News.

She explained the report goes to the flight’s destination.

“Anywhere in that chain, if someone dismisses it as ‘no big deal,’ there’s not the kind of response that’s necessary to have accountability,” Nelson said.

To get more accountability, Renee Solofra has filed a lawsuit against American Airlines. 

A spokesperson for American wrote in a statement: “The safety and security of our customers and team members remains our top priority. At this time, we are unable to comment on active litigation.” 

The law firm Romaucci and Blandin represents about a dozen women, including Solofra, who say they’ve been sexually assaulted on airplanes.

“The sad thing about this is that people don’t know that this is happening consistently,” said Daisy Ayllón, a partner at the Chicago-based firm.

Ayllón believes information sharing would go a long way to tackling this issue.

“There is no system currently that requires the airlines to actually report the numbers,” she said. “So, the numbers that the FBI has, those numbers are exclusively from victims who are deciding to come forward and they’re making a report. But we know that there’s more victims out there because the airlines receive those complaints. The airlines are speaking to the passengers directly, and the airlines are not reporting those numbers to the FBI. So there are a lot of gaps in information.”

Solofra is urging passengers to report assaults promptly. She hopes airlines will also report numbers to authorities, and the public, so people will know the risk. 

“Silence only protects the aggressor,” she said. “There needs to be reform and we’re not going to stop until that reform happens.”