American Airlines says ‘error’ was made in blaming Texas girl for being filmed in bathroom

American Airlines says an “error” was made in a legal filing this week when it blamed a 9-year-old girl for allegedly being secretly recorded by one of the airline’s flight attendants.

In January, the flight attendant, Estes Carter Thompson III, 36, of Charlotte, N.C., was arrested for allegedly filming and taking photos of children while working for the Fort Worth-based air carrier. The filing this week was in relation to a 9-year-old and her Texas family pressing charges when they traveled from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to Los Angeles for a gymnastics competition and a visit to Disneyland.

“Our outside legal counsel retained with our insurance company made an error in this filing,” an American Airlines spokesperson said in a statement. “The included defense is not representative of our airline and we have directed it be amended this morning. We do not believe this child is at fault and we take the allegations involving a former team member very seriously. Our core mission is to care for people — and the foundation of that is the safety and security of our customers and team.”

Attorney Paul Llewellyn, one of the lawyers representing the family, has previously told The Dallas Morning News the situation is “every parent’s worst nightmare.”

On Wednesday, the airline filed a second response, removing the defense that originally stated, “any injuries or illnesses alleged to have been sustained” by the plaintiff by “were proximately caused by (the) plaintiff’s own fault and negligence, were proximately caused by (the) plaintiff’s use of the compromised lavatory, which she knew or should have known contained a visible and illuminated recording device.”

“Instead of taking responsibility for this awful event, American Airlines is actually blaming our daughter for being filmed,” the girl’s mother said in a statement. “How in good conscience could they even make such a suggestion? It both shocks and angers us. American Airlines has no shame.”

A 14-year-old girl and her family also filed a lawsuit against American and Thompson, after their daughter took a photo of the cellphone taped to a toilet seat lid with stickers only crew members would have. The incident occurred in September, when the girl and her family were traveling from Charlotte to Boston. She discovered the phone after she had already used the toilet. Llewellyn and his firm are also representing the 14-year-old.

“American faced intense media and public backlash,” Llewellyn said. “To claim that they filed an error, in my view, is simply not credible. …They should never have taken such a position in the first place.”

When law enforcement searched Thompson’s iCloud account, they discovered four additional instances between January and August 2023 of minors using the restroom on an aircraft, including the 9-year-old girl from Austin. After the Boston incident, the flight attendant was immediately withheld from service and hasn’t worked since, according to American.

Thompson is charged with one count of attempted sexual exploitation of children and one count of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor, according to the Department of Justice. He pleaded not guilty to the charges this week.

The charge of attempted sexual exploitation of children could lead to a sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison. The charge of possession of child pornography depicting a prepubescent minor could mean a sentence of five to 20 years in prison. Both charges also provide for at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release, a fine of up to $250,000 and restitution.