Student paramedic, 23, is shocked to get creepy WhatsApp messages

Student paramedic, 23, is shocked to get creepy WhatsApp messages from Etihad Airways contractor as she flies home from Abu Dhabi

• Hannah Smethurst, 23, was going home from a break in Abu Dhabi at the time
• The University of Greenwich student said airline contractor WhatsApped her

A student paramedic returning from a holiday in Abu Dhabi was messaged by an airline contractor after they got her phone number from a database.

Shocked Hannah Smethurst was en-route home from her break with a friend on an Etihad Airways flight, the airline who sponsor Treble winners Man City.

The 23-year-old had passed through the airport and handed her passport over for checks.

But, when queuing up to board, she said she received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number.

The exchange started: ‘Hey. I have seen you from Abu Dhabi.’

Hannah Smethurst, 23, was going home from a break in Abu Dhabi at the time it happened

Hannah had passed through the airport and handed her passport over for checks before texts

Hannah replied: ‘How did you get this number?’

The unnamed third-party contractor added: ‘Sorry.’

She said she asked again: ‘How did you get my number?’

To which she got another message saying: ‘I searched you in the system.’

Shocked, Hannah asked in the messages: ‘What system?’

The contractor added: ‘I am working.’

She responded: ‘Yes what system?

The WhatsApp messages came through from someone working for the airline as a contractor

Hannah, a third-year University of Greenwich student, is training to be a paramedic at uni

‘The hotel or the airline?’

She got a reply saying: ‘Airline.

‘Sorry for the trouble.

‘If am disturbing you.

‘Just block me.

‘FYI Your flight is boarding.’

Hannah, a third-year University of Greenwich student, from Manchester, claimed: ‘A guy who works for the Etihad Airways used my personal data.

‘Which he found via the airline database after seeing my passport to get my phone number and proceeded to text me.

The airline said they were a third-party contractor had contacted Hannah via WhatsApp

‘Terrifying experience travelling alone.

‘I was stood at the gate getting ready to board the plane as he messaged.

‘So checked in and ready to go and it was on his personal WhatsApp.’

The airline said they were a third-party contractor and that they are being disciplined.

A spokesman for Etihad Airways said: ‘Our team have been in contact with the guest and Etihad initiated a full investigation as soon as it was made aware of inappropriate conduct by an employee of a third-party contractor.

‘As a result of the investigation, the relevant employee involved has been disciplined in accordance with the contractor’s disciplinary procedures.

‘The privacy and safety of our guests is our number one priority and we sincerely apologise for the distress caused to our guest.’

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