The increased attention on this problem has been attributed to a couple of factors.

One, that such violations have been on the rise because predators are exploiting increasingly cramped airplanes and dark cabins on night flights, Sara Nelson, who leads the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA union, has said. Another, that more women have been emboldened to share their stories amid #MeToo — and earlier, since 2016, when a woman came forward to say that Donald Trump had groped her against her will on a flight in the 1980s. A claim he’s denied .

Definitive figures about sexual assaults on flights are elusive because no clearinghouse for data exists, experts say. But what seems certain is that women like Chiu are increasingly determined to speak up.

In the incident this week, she said, it took the intervention of female bystanders to stop the behavior.

“Adult women passengers on the plane were paying attention and taking action while trying not to embarrass the teen,” she wrote.

On Twitter, she encouraged men to do the same, compelling many of them to respond with surprise. “They weren’t aware that airplane harassment was so common,” she wrote. “They promised to be vigilant, too.”

On Tuesday, I asked you how gender has affected your comfort level when traveling solo. Now I’m wondering if you’ve ever been harassed or seen someone harassed on a flight. Tell me your story at dearmaya@nytimes.com or join the conversation on our Instagram here.

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