WWYD? Concussion after suitcase fell on my head!

I know it's bad form to follow your own post but I forgot to mention in the above that pretty much universally the crew are legally deemed to be at work an hour (sometimes more) before the first departure of the day.

They are busy on work related tasks well before passengers get near the aircraft.

We're going off topic but there are most most definitely many airlines, AFAIK including the one in question here, that certainly don't work that..

Details vary but one very common system is that crew get a basic wage that gets paid whether they fly or not, then on top of that there will be an element of duty or flying pay, and also possibly allowances for meals downroute.

No, actually most airlines only start paying flight attendants once the plane is in the air. Thats why there are so many strikes.

Of COURSE they are paid before the plane takes off! They're simply not allowed to help you lift your ridiculously heavy carry-on into the overhead lockers.

It’s clear this isn’t straightforward. I think the OP needs to speak to a professional about it all. There is no way an America health centre would treat anyone without credit card/insurer details.

The paying bit's not quite true, well, not at all airlines, but because of, for example, the risk of injuring themselves some companies forbid cabin crew from lifting passenger bags into the overheads, or at the very least say it's done at own risk.

By the way whilst I accept the OP might have been hit by a heavy bag they didn't get hit by a full sized Delsey or Samsonite suitcase...BA don't always have a hand baggage weight limit (can depend on the ticket) but they do have a dimensions limit and a full blown suitcase won't be compliant.

Staff are not paid until the plane takes off. Its not their job to help you with your carry ons.

Maybe the locker wasn’t broken - maybe as the flight hadn’t yet started to move the lockers were still open.

@Tiswa

I'm sure you are right, but I'm not sure why liability stlll gets brought into this ..if the lawyers are saying the airline are financially liable I'm not arguing with that..and of course ultimately the airline has insurance...

What I'm trying to address in at least some of my replies is what can and maybe cannot be done in the real world...

That is true but liability is strict liability for this as long as the OP didn’t do anything to cause the accident to happen they are still responsible for it.

so yes they are liable for this

On the flight in question you would have had maybe 300 ish people boarding and roughly a dozen cabin crew.

There's no way the cabin crew could supervise the stowing of all items in all the lockers in real time whilst the boarding process is ongoing..that would be the case at any airline.

Best they could do is start checking the stowages once the boarding is down to a trickle and the aisles are relatively clear.

If it was an issue of something being stowed badly, they should have had staff supervising.

Well I was on a plane from the US when the (Norwegian) pilot had to come out as passengers were refusing to sit in their correct seats because they all wanted to sit together or thought that children should be able to sit in the exit rows. Was a nightmare, the flight was already delayed, the airport was about to shut and if we didn’t take off quickly we would have been stranded until the morning. The pilot came out to try to resolve the situation.

Correct..

They do have a safety role, but they certainly can be released from the flight deck and their pilot related tasks to help out in circumstances such as described in the OP.

So that's a third pilot who isn't immediately involved with the take-off safety checks etc @notimagain?

@TwinklyWrinkly

You're right that this is mainly cabin crew territory but on the ground in these sort of circumstances it sometimes helps if someone with the rank slides and maybe the hat is around to be seen as backing up the cabin crew.

Flights out of Orlando and Miami with BA usually have a relief pilot so it wouldn't be that unusual for the captain to despatch that pilot back to the cabin in the first instance to have a look at what was going on/provide a bit of extra top cover for the cabin team.

Agree with you that an independent eyewitness account would be interesting.

I'll be honest, I would be interested to hear an impartial witnesses account of the whole incident. It would be very strange for the captain to come out of the cockpit and threaten a passenger with the police. They just don't get involved with cabin issues as that is the purser's job. Maybe if it was a small internal flight with not many crew. But a British Airways transatlantic flight? Not a chance unless there was a huge passenger-initiated incident and even then, probably not, as the purser would call the police if required.

Yeah as long as she didn’t cause it herself it really doesn’t matter all that needs to be proved it that it was an accident

which by the way is right the airlines should be responsible

You may well be right about the legal side.

I was just commenting on the comment about fixing the locker..there's never been any evidence offered that it was broken.

Doesn’t matter I don’t think it is a fairly strict liability for the airline in that in just needs to be an accident - I.e. not a fraudulent claim and or cause my a passengers fear of flying

which is exactly how it should be - none of the OPs other posts matter, none of the background matters if she got injured by hand luggage on a plane accidentally the airline are liable.

as ling as the accident itself is documented and the resulting injuries it is fine

now the accident happened doesn’t matter here at all injuries like this are probably fairly common!

Nothing in the OPs account hints that this was due to a broken locker.

The accident happened during boarding and may well have been down to a fumble by another passenger.

@Ratafiawas the locker broken?
The plane hadn’t even taken off so I’d imagine the lockers were still open whilst passengers put their luggage up.
If the op has now said the locker was broken that makes it different but there was no mention of it being broken on her original post

Concussion is major. See how it impacts you. Complain about the service now to the airline (write directly to ceo via findceoemail.com or whatever site is) then in a month once you can summarise how you feel healthwise and see there was an impact, then sue. Just be warned, suing is stressful. And takes ages. Years. But when something terrible has happened, the money at the end can really help cope with that.

Op I have been on your other threads

You had to have a social worker present at your therapy sessions, so I can’t believe they were on board with you taking your two teens (both of whom have many issues and difficulties themselves) to the US.

If you were cognizant enough to ask for obs and what not (and I'm assuming arguing your case when they refused), I expect they felt you were safe enough to move.

Unless you were in need of immediate medical intervention, there's no reason for you to stay on the plane and hold everyone up. They get massive fines for leaving late and there's a huge knock on effect. The only danger you're in is falling if your legs have gone, but it's incredibly obvious to anyone watching if that's the case and they're unlikely to have let you hit the deck.

Hope you feel better soon and I know this sounds daft/obvious, but try not to bang your head again. The real danger from concussions comes when you get a secondary one, so bubble wrap your noggin for a few days! X