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?

I don't know where my belongings are with insurance details

I’m not a litigious person but in this case I would take it further.

it’s not so much the original accident, but the fact they made no attempt to apologise or make amends.

take it further.

You need to get in touch with an adult friend or family member and get them to ring the insurance company on your behalf. Get them to explain the story so far and ask what to do next.

You must have received confirmation of your policy, either by email or post. The Claims Dept contact number will be on this confirmation.
Surely you took your policy number and contact details for your insurer with you on holiday? (If not, why not? How would you have contacted them if something dire happened to you or one of your DC?)

No comment on this incident but about the damage from overhead lockers. The Kegworth air crash, bags falling out of the overhead lockers was one of the biggest causes of injuries.

BBC News - Kegworth air disaster: Plane crash survivors' stories - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-25548016?app-referrer=deep-link

Also I take it your insurance is with your missing luggage. Do you have email confirmation or confirmation of who it was paid to from your bank or credit card?

Do you not have your belongings, you're not really making much sense here and it's quite worrying you seem more concerned with suing them than other more immediate issues such as contacting your insurance, getting the CT results, and paying your medical bills.

Do you mean your luggage has been lost due to you being offloaded?
Even so, do you not have email confirmation of your policy?

You can renegotiate a slot in circumstances like this but it can mean a considerable delay, it depends..

There's not enough info to really get to the bottom of this, one thing people need to be aware of is whilst the OPs health is the prime concern the airline also has a duty of care and much more to all the other passengers on board.

Sometimes the solution to a problem like this ends as a up balancing act with more than one person not overly happy but for differing reasons.

If there was medical opinion available to the crew that said offload on foot and obs done after that was a safe course of action I can see why that was insisted on.

Well the pilots experience and the medical advice he will have been getting will have been to get you off the plane and to hospital asap.
You couldn't just lay on a stretcher on a plane for god knows how long.
Ring your insurers ASAP.

The airline are strictly liable, regardless of fault, so you should submit a claim to them under Article 17 of the Montreal Convention. It’s an international convention so same legal position here and in US.

sue them. Why wouldnt you?
Its the only thing these companies understand and the only thing that ever makes them change

Where are you now? Where are your children? Am I right in thinking you were taken off the plane straight to a&e in the uk yesterday? You sound very confused and unsure of even basic information. Are your children ok and being looked after?

I agree that you need to get a trusted adult to help you post haste. You don’t sound that able to look after things right now.

One just about every flight I've been on, mostly BA, cabin crew go up and down the aisles checking that the overheard bins are properly closed. Quite often they are not and they are opened to be rearranged, or bags are given back to the passenger who is told to put it under the seat in front, if that's possible.
If it's not possible I have seen crews take away the item and stow it in a space by the galley.

And this is why, very soon, you'll find that overhead lockers will become a redundant feature on airplanes. Everyone will have to check everything in.

Honestly I can’t understand how you were treated in a us hospital without either paying or giving insurance details

I’m really confused. You were calling and messaging the airline when you were at the airport but you didn’t call your insurance company at this time?

If your memory has been impacted so significantly that you can’t remember what happened at the hospital I’m amazed they said you were fit to fly. How do you not know where your luggage is, presumably you came through baggage reclaim with your children? Did you go home or straight to A&E?

Depending on the airline, the hand luggage can be several kilos.

Of course the correct thing to do was to get her off the plane, assessed by a Dr on whether she is fit to fly. Why would they take a risk when they are about to depart on a 9 hr+ flight, if she had deteriorated mid flight that's a whole other shit show for the airline, OP and all the other passengers.

Did you not get an email with insurance details, can you check your emails on your phone.

Oops, sorry. Sunday brain fog.

Have the kids not started school? Who looked after them in ED in Florida?

@UndertheCedartree do you not have emails etc on your phone. You would have been sent the policy details. Are you on Mumsnet on your phone?
Are you in a uk hospital now?
You seem very confused op

Then note to self… Prior to any trip the emergency phone number for my insurer goes into my phone and is emailed (with policy details) to my husband and adult children in case they need to act on my behalf.
If you don’t know how to contact your insurance company (do I actually believe that🤫) then what is the point of paying for it. Perhaps you didn’t?

A tip for future travel: make sure your insurance details (numbers to ring at the very least) are in your phone.