A woman is suing Delta Airlines after she was allegedly sexually assaulted on a flight in front of an air steward – who then dismissed her concerns because the assailant was a 'platinum member'.

Ayanna Hart, 45, of Glendale, California, was traveling from Los Angeles to Denver on May 12 when she claims she was attacked by a fellow passenger in the First Class cabin.

Hart, who was with her 15-year-old daughter at the time, tells DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview the 'drunk' man groped her three times, touching her left breast on one occasion, and even threw a pillow at her.

When another passenger complained about his behavior, the air steward allegedly replied: 'Don't worry about him, he's platinum [medallion] status - he flies with us all the time.'

Nightmare flight: Ayanna Hart, 45, a production company executive from Glendale, California, says she was sexually assaulted in a first-class cabin during her flight to Denver, Colorado

And when Hart, who works for an LA-based production company, left the aircraft, she says the attendant told her he was sorry that the man had been 'flirting' with her.

'I was so angry and so disgusted by the time I got off the plane,' Hart told DailyMail.com. 'Before I could say anything [to him], the attendant turned and said to me, 'I'm so sorry [the alleged assailant] was flirting with you'.

'I said, oh that's what you call this? I was so mad - I just needed to get off the plane.'

Hart, who is now set to sue the airline after failing to get an apology, says she is a regular traveler herself but does not have medallion status with Delta's Skymiles frequent flyer program.

To achieve platinum status, which comes with benefits such as free upgrades and priority boarding, a traveler must spend $9,000 and fly 75,000 miles with Delta in one calendar year.

Hart said: 'I didn't know that if you have platinum status, you're allowed to sexually assault people on a plane. I didn't know that was one of the perks you get.'

Another airline PR scandal? The 45-year-old's alleged ordeal began shortly after boarding a Delta-branded Embraer E-175 jet (pictured) and was dismissed after a flight attendant allegedly told her the man was 'platinum status'

The alleged assault comes less than three months after Kentucky medic David Dao was filmed being brutally dragged off a United flight at Chicago's O'Hare airport on April 9.

Elderly Dr. Dao was left bloodied and bruised after being hauled off the plane by local cops and is now suing the airline.

A week later, a young mother was left in tears on an American Airlines flight from Dallas to San Francisco following a confrontation with an air steward.

And on May 3, a video surfaced showing a Delta gate agent smacking a phone out of a 12-year-old boy's hand at New York's LaGuardia airport - although the incident in question was later revealed to date from July 2016.

Hart, who usually flies with either Delta or Virgin America, says her experience has made her skeptical of all US-based airlines.

The mother-of-one was traveling with her 15-year-old daughter when a 'drunk' passenger - described as a white man in his late 20s to early 30s - began to harass her and 'groped' her breast three times

She said: 'It's hard for me to say if I will fly Delta again. It doesn't give me confidence in them at all but I don't know if any airline is any better. I just don't know.'

The 45-year-old's alleged ordeal began shortly after boarding a Delta-branded Embraer E-175 jet at Los Angeles' LAX airport at approximately 7pm local time on May 12.

The flight was operated by SkyWest, a subsidiary air service provider which offers 2,000 flights a day to 230 destinations on behalf of Delta, as well as United, American Airlines and Alaska Airlines.

Hart was making the 1,098-mile journey to Denver, which has a flying time of 2 hours and 26 minutes, to help her parents pack up her grandmother's home and possessions after the elderly woman passed away.

She paid extra for upgrades to First Class as a treat for herself and her teenage daughter, who had recently completed an exam at school.

Upon boarding, she says she noticed nothing amiss and spent the first 15 minutes of the flight playing a Sudoku game published in the in-flight magazine with her daughter.

But she became aware of the drunk man, whom she describes as being white and in his late 20s or early 30s, sitting in a single seat to her left after he began singing loudly.

Hart, who was flying from LAX (pictured), claimed the flight attendant later said he was 'sorry' that man was 'flirting' with her

Hart said: 'I'd say probably 10 or 15 minutes into the flight, he started singing really loudly to himself. He had earbuds in and he was clearly drunk.

'He wasn't in a suit. He had on jeans and a nice striped, button-down shirt. He looked presentable. He was probably in his late 20s, early 30s maybe. He was white and he had brown hair.'

At first, she says she thought nothing of it but 15 minutes later, she claims the man reached across the aisle and groped her breast.

She told DailyMail.com: 'He kind of grabbed and started tickling on the left side of my body near my breast. The area that I guess would be below your armpit. The side breast.

Rigid with fear, Hart says she was so shocked by the contact she didn't know what to do at first but then loudly told the man not to touch her.

Hart plans to seek punitive damages if she doesn't receive an apology from the airline

She says he then pulled his hands away and held them up in acknowledgement. But shortly afterwards, he attempted to grab her for a second and third time.

'The second time, he grabbed and was pulling on my arm,' Hart said. 'The third time he grabbed the cutout shoulder on my dress and was almost ripping it while grabbing at my shoulder.'

And Hart claims the man's behavior did not go unnoticed, with both the flight attendant and her fellow passengers witnessing the various incidents.

She said: 'Between the second and the third time [the man grabbed her], he got up to go to the restroom and the passenger sitting in front of him called the flight attendant over.

'He said 'I'm really worried about that guy'. The flight attendant then said, 'Don't worry about him, he's platinum [medallion] status - he flies with us all the time'.

'I was so horrified. Everyone on the plane in First Class was saying, 'he's touching her'. Everyone was aware of it.

'The first time [Hart was allegedly groped], he [the flight attendant] was not necessarily aware because I did not say anything to him until I was getting off the plane.

'But after [the passenger] touched me the third time, the flight attendant definitely knew – he even said to him, 'No touching'.

'I'm like, that's all you're going to say? And then [the man] threw a pillow at me. The flight attendant basically just dismissed his behavior like it was fine.'

When the plane landed in Denver, the passenger, who Hart says had by that time consumed five or six alcoholic drinks, made a swift exit.

She claims the air steward apologized for the man's 'flirting' as she made her own exit and says she was accosted by a second passenger as she left who told her he had been horrified by what he witnessed.

Hart said: 'When I got off the plane, a gentleman came up to me and said, I was sitting two seats behind you and I had my seat belt off the entire time because if he touched you again or did something, I was going to jump up and grab him because I saw everything.'

The 45-year-old later told her parents what had happened but did not inform the local police because she thought they did not have jurisdiction over incidents that occur on aircraft.

By now 'very upset' about what had happened, she contacted an attorney Marc Randazza, of Gloucester, Massachusetts, on her return to Los Angeles.

He has since approached Delta to demand an apology on Hart's behalf but says so far, he has been replied to only once – with a referral to SkyWest's insurers.

Airline scandal: The alleged assault comes less than three months after Kentucky medic David Dao was filmed being brutally dragged off a United flight at Chicago's O'Hare airport on April 9

Randazza, 47, says he will file a lawsuit next week if Hart does not receive the apology she wants and plans to ask for punitive damages.

He said: 'Delta had a duty to maintain a safe environment for its passengers. It failed to do that by failing to control what happened on the plane.

'That is both in terms of how this guy was behaving when they had the ability to put an end to it and also by over-serving him with alcohol, thus contributing to the problem.

'Then, after being given multiple occasions to do something about it, it seems the real thing they did about it was endorse it [by not stopping the man].'

Approached by DailyMail.com, Delta promised to respond to Hart's allegations but, at the time of publication, had yet to do so.

SkyWest responded to an inquiry from DailyMail.com with a statement that read: 'The safety and security of all on board our aircraft is our first priority.

'It is our policy not to comment on pending litigation.'

Pressed on the alleged behavior of the crew member, spokeswoman Marissa Snow added: 'We hold our crew-members to the highest standards of professionalism and have strict policies and procedures in place to ensure the safety of all onboard.'

Hart, who says she has been underwhelmed by the 'lukewarm' response so far, says more needs to be done to ensure aircrew are trained to protect passengers and intervene if necessary.

She said: 'I feel like there needs to be more regulation, more training in place. There needs to be something so everyone understands that everyone on a flight is a paying customer.

'Everyone expects on a flight what you would expect out in the world. Sexual assault is not OK on a plane or anywhere else in the world.'