EXCLUSIVE: American Airlines Flight Attendants in F.O. Sigsbee Nelson Case Speak Out
Booze, cigars & guns in the air: FAs’ lawsuit exposes American Airlines pilots' Old Boys Club
Shocking. Unbelievable. Hurtful. A slap in the face.
These are some of the words former American Airlines flight attendants LeeAnne Hansen and Janette Beckman use to describe the painful aftermath of a federal jury’s verdict that their alleged harasser and assailant, former First Officer Sigsbee “John” Nelson, was not liable for what the women say he did to them. (Read the civil judgment).
The devastating defeat after a five-year legal battle was still fresh, still raw, when I spoke to both women by phone from Los Angeles.
Beckman and Hansen are navigating through dust clouds from the collapse of the case they built with their attorneys, one they all invested untold hours, money, energy and heart into.
Even so, the women know there is worth and value in what they did, regardless of the outcome in court. Because maybe there’s another outcome in another place. Maybe their relentless fight will turn some heads, get some attention, put some pressure on institutions and people who can change things for the better. Maybe their work isn’t done.
What Happened in Court?
I wasn’t able to cover the trial in a Los Angeles federal court where attorneys for the FAs sought $8 million in damages, but I’m told Nelson’s side put zero witnesses on the stand and his attorneys spent their time highlighting the aircraft he flew when he was in the U.S. Air Force. The jury found this more compelling than credible testimony from veteran FAs who sacrificed their careers to flag an on-duty pilot allegedly looking for alcohol mid-flight, I guess.
I’m told American’s high-priced lawyers watched from the gallery every day, even though the airline had already wormed its way out of the lawsuit. Nothing they do is by accident.
All allegations about Nelson’s and American Airlines’ actions are contained in public court documents; a reminder that a judgment in the case cleared Nelson of charges including battery (sexual assault and harassment) while the alcohol-related claims have not been tested in court or investigated by the airline.
Meet Jan Beckman and Leela Hansen
Interview edited for length and clarity. Read my original story for full context.
Q: I received a lot of private messages from pilots and FAs the day my story about the verdict was posted. A lot of people in the airline industry are behind you and felt angry and discouraged by the jury’s decision. You affected a lot of people by taking a stand. What do you think happened?
JB: It was shocking and unbelievable. There were four women and four men. The jury was young and one of our attorneys, David Felsenthal, has been an attorney for 35 years and he thought it was perfect. So did Avi [Burkowitz, another of their attorneys].
I don’t know. It just seemed really odd.
LH: I had questions. There was a woman who was the foreperson…
JB: It’s unbelievable to us that if they believed us somewhat, but thought that amount of money was too much, they could’ve [awarded us] a dollar.
LH: But no. It was no across the board. It made us feel once again that people think we’re lying and that we’re not believable. That’s what’s so hurtful and will stay with us. We’re both trying to get on with our lives and we will, but it was such a slap in the face. For everyone, our attorneys, my son. He flew down from the Bay Area. He was only able to [attend the trial] one day. He thought our case was going so well and he couldn’t believe it when he found out the verdict. Everybody was shocked.
David Felsenthal was welling up next to me holding my hand. It was just such a mind-blower. Every single thing that went down was documented.
Court papers say that on a flight from Los Angeles to São Paulo, Brazil in February 2019, then-American Airlines First Officer Sigsbee Nelson visited the back of the aircraft where there are no cameras and asked the women for alcohol. Jan was alone when he first approached. Both veteran flight attendants refused to give him any alcohol.
JB: What do you come back asking for alcohol for? Are you going to drink it on your rest break? Why are you asking mid-flight? We just didn’t know. When Bob [Sipovac, the flight’s captain] leaves that seat as captain, Nelson would be the one to go in and take over. We could not take a chance he’s flying the plane intoxicated on his own [editor’s note: There is no suggestion Nelson was intoxicated]. That was the whole thing for us. It’s a safety issue.
LH: He could’ve easily gone from the cockpit to first class and grabbed a bunch of minis, but he walked all the way to the back of the biggest plane we own with the most amount of people we fly, and he has this horrendous conversation with Jan about S&M sex and then wanting to tie her up and tie me up, saying “I’m going to come to your room and tie you up.”
My eyes were bulging out of my head. I couldn’t believe what he was saying. That was the first trigger for both of us.
When I came out of the bathroom and heard the conversation he was having with Jan about S&M sex, my mind was about to explode. I just said to myself, she needs a witness right now, and I’m going to sit here and listen to this guy. At first I thought he was a passenger. He had no distinguishing wings or epaulets or ID showing. He had a sweater on, and never introduced himself, so I had no idea he was the first officer. Jan knew who he was but I didn’t.
Upon landing in São Paulo, the lawsuit alleges that Nelson sexually assaulted Hansen in an elevator at the layover hotel, a claim the jury in the civil case said the women failed to prove.
The women, who reported everything immediately to the flight’s captain, Bob Sipovac, should have reported the alleged assault to the local police, the airline later said. Sipovac did nothing to protect the FAs or to report Nelson, court papers say. And yet…
“Far from surprised, Captain Sipovac shared that, in the cockpit, Nelson boasted of his sexual conquests with underage prostitutes—in reality, child sex slaves—and visits to strip clubs during layovers, even showing pictures he kept as mementos,” court papers say.
LH: I’m going to report this guy to the police in the early morning hours when I can’t speak Portuguese? He pounded me with an erection in the back of my buttocks. Everything was witnessed and documented in federal court. He was very violent to me, and Jan saw the whole thing.
Both Hansen and Beckman suffered disabling conditions afterward, including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, such that each took a medical leave of absence to address their psychological and physical injuries.
Yet the aftermath of reporting the incidents held indignities they never saw coming.
For starters, Beckman was forced to work on another flight with Nelson soon after the Brazil trip, and before takeoff, she witnessed Nelson making obscene gestures with an unlit cigar. Later, he approached her from behind and whispered “menacingly in her ear,” according to court papers.
JB: He would often go through the terminal, and even on the aircraft, with an unlit cigar in his mouth. And now he was doing that gesture. That’s not normal. You can’t imagine the thousands of crew we’ve flown with and neither one of us have ever come across any behavior like this. [Nelson denies that any gestures with the cigar were meant to be obscene].
Adding to their trauma…
JB: At our HR hearing, Jeanette Gibbs [HR investigator for American] had Leela and I reenact what he did to us. I had this peer, a fellow FA, come up and act like she was being assaulted. We were not told we should have a union person with us, so we didn’t have a representative. [Nelson] did, and he had attorneys with him, too.
LH: We were in tears reenacting the elevator incident when he dug his fingers into my hips. It was scary. We were both looking at each other crying when we came out of the elevator.
JB: Then I had to go and show where on her body he touched Leela [in front of everyone at the HR hearing] and it was like, who does this? Why make us relive it? It revictimizes the victim.
LH: I was more traumatized by that HR hearing. I knew I had to tell the truth. I’d never done it before, nor had Jan. I went back to the table [after the reenactment] and was just like…oh my god.
JB: It was so unfair. So unprofessional.
Their lawsuit alleges American Airlines retaliated and harassed them for speaking up. Pilot Nelson was given paid leave during the internal investigation, while the FAs were given unpaid leave—but the airline didn’t even stick to that, their suit says.
JB: I was so broke and American cancelled my insurance three times. They scheduled me to work, then called me and said, “Why aren’t you here?” I was on sick leave from my doctor! I was never released to go back to work. It was harassment.
During this time frame, plaintiffs became aware that at least one [American Airlines] pilot, who was known for carrying a gun in the cockpit while on duty, was seeking revenge on behalf of Nelson. The pilot approached plaintiffs’ fellow flight attendants, with plaintiffs’ name and employee identification number written on a piece of paper he kept in his pocket, and asked if the flight attendants knew plaintiffs. His manner was menacing, and caused plaintiffs to further fear for their safety if they were to return to work.
LH: This was a safety issue. I can’t emphasize that enough. That’s how we saw it. There were 14 of my friends on the crew and 300 passengers. I could not believe that professional standards was not understanding that it’s a safety issue. That’s how this started, and they blew us off. All I asked was for [Nelson] to be evaluated.
JB: Evaluated mentally and for drugs and alcohol.
LH: That’s all I asked, and here we were five years later sitting in court. How did we get to this point where we feel like the criminals because we said, “I don’t want someone with a problem in the cockpit?”
I’ve never in 44 years felt unsafe like I did with this guy. I’ve never reported a pilot, nor has Jan. We’re both seasoned flight attendants, and to be able to say you felt safe with every single cockpit crew member for 44 years is pretty amazing.
And yet the FAs' baked-in credibility from decades of service appeared to mean nothing to American Airlines. Furthermore, the women quickly discovered the airline has foxes watching the hen house.
When Beckman and Hansen reported their safety concerns to Captain Steven Schwartz, American’s head of Professional Standards, he…
…did not report the misconduct. Instead, Captain Schwartz told Plaintiffs that the incident they were complaining about was “no big deal” and that FO Nelson was going to retire soon enough. He did not tell them to report the misconduct to HR. In fact, Captain Schwartz claimed to do his own investigation, but does not recall what happened, took no notes nor prepared any reports because he “did not want to create a record.” (Excerpt from the FAs’ lawsuit).
LH: They never do anything until their back’s against the wall. We’re the ones under fire. In our deposition they were so incredibly difficult.
It’s the old boys’ club. They do not turn on each other. I talked to [dozens of] people to try to get Jan off that following trip with [Nelson]. I was working my ass off. Captain Schwartz, head of professional standards, asked me, “Are you sure you really want to do this? You can trade off your trip, you’re so senior. There are pilots killing themselves right now.” How dare he.
JB: After we reported Nelson, they said, “But he’s close to retirement.”
LH: So could I be right now! And Jan. This is not a personality conflict. It’s nothing to do with that. This is a safety issue. We’re all subject to random drug, alcohol and psych testing at American at any time. I felt like we were not asking the company to do all that much. Just test the guy.
I’m sober 40 years. There’s a lot of hope and programs at American—they have so much going on like the HIMS program and the employee assistance program.
I’ve had a hundred drug and alcohol tests in my career and passed every single one of them. What is the big deal? And then we turn into the enemy? I don’t get it. I’m asking just to evaluate this guy. I was not out to take his job from him, nor was Jan.
JB: American swept the safety part of our original report under the rug. They never asked us anything about [the alleged alcohol incident].
To learn more about this case and others that reveal American’s treatment of FAs and protecting of male pilots, watch THE LANDING’s first documentary, Secrets of Flight 587.
Q: What’s next for both of you?
JB: I see a psychologist every single week since this happened. All the costs of that, of all the doctors, is insane. I’m healing and starting my life over. Once again, the victims are the enemy. This is why women don’t report their rapes. We’re the ones dragged through the mud. And the [alleged] perpetrator just walks.
LH: We want to keep the subject in the limelight and make sure it doesn’t go by the wayside.
JB: For Leela and I, it was like, it’s got to stop and we’re going to make a change for other flight attendants. We wanted to change—
LH: —the culture! The MeToo movement was fantastic for a lot of women but it is not enforced for Fortune 500 companies. The old guys are still in charge.
American has changed HR training because of us. They’re doing it three times a year now.
JB: They changed the whole program, and it’s a lot longer than it was. We did get that out of it.
LH: That was wonderful. The original training was 15 minutes long on a computer and you answered A, B or C and keep clicking. It was broad, and touched upon telling crass jokes in the galley. It was BS, and not really getting to the root of what is going on.
JB: Pilots need to be better trained. They should have a manual for when this comes up, step by step, how do they report it and what they’re looking for. There’s nothing like that right now.
We are not covered while we’re in the air. We’re unprotected. Who would work for an airline if they knew that when they were in the air, out of the country and flying into a place that American Airlines sent you, that you are not protected? That’s the loophole they get away with every time. (Editor’s note: See my original story on this case for tips to cover yourself outside the U.S.).
Who would sign up for that? Anything can happen to you, but if you’re out of the country or in the air, [the airline says] We can’t help you.
That information needs to be told and things needs to change. They get away with it all the time. This came up with the chef and Kimberly Goesling—she was in Germany [when she was assaulted]. Why should [geographical location] matter? You sent us there!
LH: We are officially on duty, getting paid by American, in our uniform in a foreign country, and no one understands that we’re not protected. We’re the enemy because we report a safety issue?
I don’t feel that every airline is protecting their flight attendants in dangerous cities in other countries. Here we are in a beautiful hotel in a dangerous area in Brazil, and little did we know that the danger was with American’s first officer. And we’re still not protected from an on-duty pilot.
JB: We should be lobbyists for this to change at every airline.
LH: The stress from this five years has affected my health tremendously. I have a condition that’s deteriorating my lungs. And the stress just accelerates it. I’m not enjoying my retirement. I’m just taking care of my health right now and trying to survive.
We lost a lot of money to pursue this thing because we felt so passionate about other flight attendants not going through what we went through. We were not going to stop. We were like bulldogs, right Jan?
JB: Absolutely.
About me
I’m an award-winning journalist and bestselling author with decades of international experience writing for magazines and newspapers including People, Newsweek, U.S. News & World Report, the Sunday Times Magazine (UK), Glamour, Shape, Epicurious.com, and more.
My 2021 memoir/military history book The Strong Ones: How a Band of Civilian Women Made Their Mark on the Army was an overnight #1 bestseller on Amazon in 2021. Said former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, “The Strong Ones provides an inspirational message for our times.”
My crime reporting includes the most high-profile cases of the past decades. I’ve been sent to Italy to report on the Amanda Knox case, Portugal to cover Madeleine McCann’s disappearance, London to cover the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings, L.A. for the death of Michael Jackson, and Sandy Hook, Conn. to cover the horrific school shooting, to name a few.
I was the first-ever recipient of the Jane Cunningham Croly Award for Excellence in Journalism Covering Issues of Concern to Women from the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. Winners after me included Marianne Pearl, and judges were legends in journalism like Judy Woodruff. I contributed to the feminist anthology Letters of Intent (Free Press/Simon & Schuster, 1999) alongside such icons as Gloria Steinem, Ntozake Shange and Judy Blume, receiving a review from the New York Times. I am the author of a total of 13 fiction and nonfiction books, some of them under a pen name.
Shame on this jury. Captain Bob Sipovac’s testimony should have been compelling enough for them to want to find Nelson liable for assault. Don’t the specimens’ who served on this jury care about the allegations of child rape in Brazil and want to send a message child rape is wrong even if they think sexual assault is no big deal? What is even more appalling is that American Airlines were allegedly happy to compromise the safety of passengers to protect their allegedly intoxicated FO. Over two decades since their coked up and sleep deprived F.O. pedophile Sten Molin took down a plane and they still haven’t learnt to prioritise passenger safety. Oh and the thuggish behaviour of pilots wanting to protect Nelson is very familiar to anyone dealing with the reams of abusive trolling from American Airlines pilots trying to silence journalists and victims speaking out about aviation predators including dead pedophile Sten Molin. Shame on you all.