Family of child recorded in plane bathroom settles with American Airlines

Details of the agreement, which comes after a flight attendant pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of children, were not made public.CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CN) — The family of a young girl filmed by a flight attendant in an airplane bathroom reached a settlement with American Airlines Monday.Her parents reached the confidential settlement and will agree to release their claims against the airline, the family’s attorneys said in court filings.The minor victim, who filed suit under the pseudonym Jane Doe with her parents in 2025, flew from Orlando, Florida, to Charlotte in August 2023, when she was secretly filmed in the plane bathroom by Estes Carter Thompson III, an American Airlines flight attendant.The airline should have known he was a danger, she said in her suit, because federal law enforcement had confirmed he had recorded other children using the bathroom in the months prior to her flight.“Plaintiffs John and Mary Doe, Jane Doe’s natural parents, have fully and carefully considered this settlement offer and are of the opinion that under the circumstances, this offer of settlement is reasonable and proper and in the best interests of the minor-plaintiff and adequately protects the minor-plaintiff’s interests,” the family said in a joint request for the agreement to be approved.In responding to the September 2025 complaint, American Airlines denied “it was an actual or proximate cause of the injuries suffered,” and said it is not responsible for intentional or criminal acts of its employees, nor did it know that Thompson was going to act as he did.A representative for the company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the settlement.The deal will still have to be approved by a federal judge, but the parties asked the court to seal the hearing where the judge will examine the agreement. Trial in the case had been scheduled for January 2027.The FBI informed Jane Doe’s family in October 2023 that the agency had recovered photos from Thompson’s iCloud account, turning a Disney World trip into “a parent’s worst nightmare” that has affected her ability to function, the plaintiffs said. They added she worries about being in public restrooms alone, searches them for cameras and is afraid to fly. She was 11 years old at the time of the incident.The airline should have developed policies to ensure Thompson couldn’t continue his behavior “over months with no intervention,” her family said, including preventing flight attendants from using their phones to record on flights and training flight attendants to recognize warning signs of activities that might harm passengers.Thompson is serving an 18-year sentence with five years of supervised release after pleading guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor.He was caught attempting to record a 14-year-old while she used the bathroom by taping his iPhone to the underside of the toilet lid using “inoperative equipment” stickers. The passenger reported this to her parents, who reported it to other flight attendants.She and her parents filed a separate lawsuit against American Airlines in 2023, claiming Thompson was allowed unrestricted access to his phone for an hour after she realized he had filmed her, giving him time to erase evidence and reset the device to factory settings. The family settled the case in 2025 in a confidential agreement.The Department of Justice said during his work as a flight attendant, Thompson preyed on four minor victims — 6, 9, 11 and 14 years old — by hiding his phone in plane lavatories and filming them. Officials said he also took photos of an unaccompanied 9-year-old, including closeups of her face and her clothed buttocks.He had hundreds of AI-generated images of child sexual abuse material on his iCloud account, officials added.Categories / Courts, TravelSubscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads