A weekend trip turned horrific for a New York woman when United Airlines staff forced her to sit next to a man who was masturbating while staring at her.

The woman was on a 6am flight from Rochester to Newark when she noticed that her ‘unassuming’ co-passenger was touching himself inappropriately.

The lady, who will not be identified as she is a victim of an alleged sexual offense, told NBC News that the man was staring at her while pleasuring himself.

She added that when she alerted the United staff, the flight attendants told her that she could stand for the remainder of the one-hour flight.

The pediatric crisis therapist was flying to Boston on September 3 to spend a weekend with her friends, the outlet reported.

Things got much worse when the staff asked her to return to her seat during landing.

The woman told NBC News that she had to sit next to the man until the plane landed but no action was taken against him.

The woman said that the staff guided her back to her designated seat despite her reporting the sexual harassment activity because ‘there were no other available seats.’

The woman was told that she would only have to sit for three to five minutes, but she said that the landing took much longer. 

Since she was sitting in the back of the aircraft, she had to tolerate the man during the majority of deplaning also. 

‘On multiple instances, I said I feel uncomfortable doing that,’ the woman told NBC News.

She told the outlet that when she met an agent at the terminal gate, she was addressed very rudely.

When she raised concerns that the man might be on his next flight, the agent replied: ‘What am I supposed to do about it?’

She got little to no assistance after that. Another agent just told her that she should file a complaint with the airline.

United Airlines said in a statement that employees 'take these matters seriously and are looking into what happened.' 

'We have been in contact with the customer and apologized for her experience.'

'This incident was reported to flight attendants on a September 3 flight operated by United Express partner Republic Airways. The customer stayed in the aircraft galley until returning to her seat for the landing. United Airlines staff members learned about it as customers were deplaning.'

The Rochester resident described the offender as a roughly 35 to 40-year-old man. 

He was wearing hiking pants and a T-shirt. He was ‘pretty normal-looking,’ the therapist told NBC News.

She added that she believes that the man is accustomed to doing such horrendous acts.

‘People don’t just do those things at 6am,’ she said.

The woman said that she got even more frustrated when she saw the man leave without any repercussions.

‘If someone were to vape in a bathroom, they’d be escorted off the plane,’ she said.

The woman filed complaints with United Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration. She also called the FBI.

United Airlines gave her an option to interact with the company only via email, the outlet reported.

Their response was: ‘I can imagine how upsetting and uncomfortable it must have been to experience behavior from another passenger that caused you concern, particularly while seated in a location where you felt concerned.’

The woman responded by saying that the reply contains ‘a lot of blaming language,’ which she found ‘very offensive.’

She further wrote in her reply: ‘I DID remove myself and ask for help. Additionally, framing public masturbation as ‘behavior that caused me concern’ implies that what occurred could somehow be perceived as acceptable.’

The therapist added that she was not seeking a refund but the flight credit she got from the airline as compensation was ‘insulting.’

United offered compensation of $100 to the woman when she complained. Her flight cost her $400. 

The woman’s boyfriend was not on the trip with her but was constantly texting her.

‘I was just hoping that she was safe and that the proper authorities were going to handle the situation,’ he said.

The woman will continue flying with United because she still has loyalty miles and an airline credit card, she said.