singapore/new delhi 17-year-old bollywood actress take social media week allege sexually assault airplane appear catch airline industry off-guard allegations deny man accuse assault domestic vistara flight india trigger online outrage prompt rare police investigation incident come shortly facebook founder mark zuckerberg sister randi silicon valley executive say via social media victim sexual harassment alaska airlines flight highlight risk airlines need respond incident go public brand come fire global issue every country deal fallout say saj ahmad london-based analyst strategic aero research prepare address passenger concern rather reactive social media complaints arguably help address problems real time people reuters contact in-flight sexual misconduct passengers crew include airlines flight attendant unions airline train consultants say incidents vastly under-reported last year accord international air transport association iata airlines globally report 211 instance inappropriate sexual behavior among 3.8 billion passengers 40 million flight statement iata say few half case report authorities police investigations victims require press charge airline say taylor garland spokeswoman u.s. association flight attendants believe under-reporting occur andrew herdman director general association asia pacific airlines say iata data need view caution event descriptions always standardize significant variations level voluntary report airlines regard incidents involve sexual harassment range verbal intimidation actual physical assault relatively rare always take seriously say among nearly two dozen major airlines contact reuters japan airlines co ltd give actual figure incidents sexual harassment flight around 10-20 year police call case suhaila hassan head cabin crew malaysia-based budget airline airasia bhd say report case passenger-on-passenger harassment though occasional instance cabin crew harass say possible incidents report airline could case culture people feel shy embarrass reveal say airlines comment fit broad study estimate three every four sexual harassment incidents workplace unite state go unreported asia less culture public discourse sexual harassment tend culture ... people generally speak say jason tan former singapore airlines flight attendant work consultant train cabin crew asia middle east victims tend suffer silence elsamarie silva former flight attendant jet airways run website crowdsourcing case sexual harassment abuse say case under-reported india associate shame culture onus victim prove allegations time come indian aviation take seriously say airlines train cabin crew deal broad category unruly passenger incidents range physical abuse obscene behavior verbal threats tamper aircraft equipment crew train incidents limit extent say philip baum manage director green light aviation security train firm consultancy cabin crew security course around world complete one day take two days many scenarios could spend week go type unruly passenger accord iata third almost 10,000 unruly passenger incidents report last year involve intoxication percent inappropriate sexual behavior incidents rare crew highly train manage situation may dangerous threaten say spokeswoman european budget airline easyjet american airlines recently decide provide enhance train sexual harassment matter part broad diversity inclusion drive spokeswoman say decline give detail unite airlines ceo oscar munoz week tell carrier 90,000 employees zero tolerance sexual harassment customers staff accord memo airline website specify extra train survey u.s. association flight attendants year find fifth cabin crew respondents experience passenger-to-passenger assault work flight union express concern policies relate passenger sexual misconduct rarely highlight half survey say knowledge specific policies appear apply india say satvik varma new delhi-based independent litigation lawyer lack regulations say grapple lack implementation lack knowledge regulations in-flight sexual assault often unreported airlines need step