WWYD? Concussion after suitcase fell on my head!

[UndertheCedartree]

Just a thread to get opinions on this and decide what to do.

I was boarding my flight home from Florida on Thursday evening and was just sitting down when a suitcase landed on my head having fallen from the overhead locker. Honestly, the whole experience has been horrible and I feel I've been really badly treated. Being in the US all the Americans keep telling me to sue!

I don't necessarily want to do that but I would like to stop someone experiencing the same. Or I just forget about it and move on. Just interested to hear opinions.

So after it happened they called firefighters (who are paramedics too) to attend. When waiting for this I noticed they had moved my hand luggage off the plane and got my teenage children out of their seats who were both standing there crying. The firefighters came and the airline crew were telling me I have to go to hospital. I asked for some observations to be done and a stretcher brought. They insisted I had to get off the plane. The pilot came out, no empathy atall, just told me to get off the plane or he would call the police! I went with the firefighters and they told me they would have preferred to do observations before moving me but have to do what the airline says.

Anyway they took me to hospital and they said I was ok to fly home the next day. I tried to get in touch with someone to ask for some accommodations to make the flight more bearable as I was in so much pain. I was told I have to speak to 'the airport team' - we arrived at the airport at 11am and there was noone from the airline there. Eventually they came at 1pm but told me they just work on their behalf they can do nothing I need to speak to the airline on the phone/online. Tried numbers, messaging for hours. Eventually I was told they would make sure I was comfortable on the flight with pillows etc. We got on the flight having been up for a day and a half and so uncomfortable from.just sitting on airport seating, I thought I was finally going to be comfortable. When I got on board I asked for a pillow. You would have thought I'd asked for the crown jewels! I was shouted at, told there was only one pillow person customer (not actually a pillow just a small thin cushion) It was a horrible, painful flight and I felt so bad and was so dizzy when I got off the flight I am now in A&E.

They think it is a concussion but I failed one of the neurological observations so I'm waiting for a CT scan. I honestly think they could have taken more care and been much nicer. Wwyd?

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

@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...

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Incorrect. Cabin crew get a basic wage that covers a crew briefing before the flight that determines which position each crew will work in, any pertinent information for the flight and then pre-flight prep which includes onboarding passengers. Then they get flight pay which starts when the flight take off.

Not in other countries.

Incorrect again. I know this because I was cabin crew in another country. And I have friends that are now cabin crew back in the UK and other countries. I am sure that not all airlines operate the same but a lot do follow the model I outlined.

@TheCheekyCyanHelper

Well as someone who has been on an airline payroll as crew I remain surprised ... I wonder if you can give an example, of a company or at least a country where that happens.

What you are suggesting (which seems to be crew only get paid by the acheived flying hour) would mean cabin crew pay would/could be highly variable,.

For example they'd get no payment for days spent doing their mandatory ground training or other non-flying duties (e.g. airport standby) they would be absolutely stuffed if they went sick for any length of time and they'd lose money during months they had leave.

As a result most schemes, certainly those 've had contact with or awareness of (not just in the UK) have at least some element of fixed, basic monthly pay (which TBF may not be a lot) which you get regardless of the amount of flying done and then the incentive, variable pay such as flying pay on top...

I'd also have to say the workings of some company salary packages are often chuffing hard for most people outside the company to unravel...

Pretty much every airline in the USA

I am starting to feel a bit better, thank God.

Just a comment on helping with suitcases. BA staff do help. They had helped us put ours up.

Anyway, I've spoken to my insurance and got everything set up so if/when I get a bill I can just send it to them. I now need to make a claim through BA for my expenses incurred.

My friend was telling me about when they were in Turkey - the clinic treated but the hospital wouldn't until a credit card was produced. This was definitely more like a clinic. And none of us are aware of them asking for credit card/GHIC/insurance all of which I had. So we shall see.

What expenses did you incur? They took you to the airport clinic, paid for your hotel room and put you on a new flight for free.

Is the plan still to sue?

Ah I did wonder if that's where we'd end up.

They are much much much closer to only paying by the block hour than say, airlines in europe but from what I've heard at least at some US operators there's can be a little bit more to it than that.

As far as the crew on the OPs flight goes, european rules, and I know for at least a while at BA crew were advised not to help load luggage in the overhead, though I know, as the OP has now.mentioned some continue to help.

Just for future reference GHIC is specifically Europe and of no help in America.