LHR Wannabee

I was on a connecting flight from the New York area to South Florida. While seated on my aisle seat, the F/A was with the cart next to me serving someone hot tea water from the carafe. While seated, I felt pin-like sensations on my arm in rapid succession. I then realized that the water was dripping from the carafe onto my left forearm (the underside of the arm) possibly from when he was pouring it. I immediately yelled to get the F/A's attention and point out that the water was burning my arm.

The flight attendant then gave me a bag of ice to keep on my arm and they asked if there was any medical people on board to take a look at it. My concern was whether or not my arm would blister after the fact. They advised me to keep ice on it (changed out from time to time) for the duration of the flight. My forearm was sore like the feeling you get from a sunburn without wearing suntan lotion-- so it was throbbing a little. They then had me go to the back of the plane's galley where all of the flight attendant's were gathered. A man who said he was an EMT, said to keep ice on it.

Since I don't have a medical background, I wanted to make sure that I documented this in case it blistered after I got off of the plane. I wanted to make sure they could not say "prove it happened on the plane" in case I needed additional medical attention later. I asked to receive something in writing to confirm the incident and they said that they do not give the passenger anything in writing. I then asked for the flight attendant's name and was told that they do not give out names. At this point, I got extremely frustrated. It appeared that they were more interested in CYA than anything else. When I returned to my seat, they asked to see my boarding pass and took it to the front galley.

When another F/A returned. I asked for her name. She told me that she did not have to give it to me and it was their policy. I said that as a 1k for many years, I have had no problem getting names of F/A's when I wanted to pay a compliment and even received their full names and employee numbers. I said that as much as my arm hurt, it was bothering me more that they were not handling this well. Additionally, I do not remember receiving an apology from the F/A who got the hot water on me in the first place. I said that I would include this information when I contacted corporate to express my disappointment and frustration about the way this was handled. She then went to the front galley and conferred with all of the other F/A's. The man who got the hot water on me came over to me and then said he was the lead F/A and gave his first name. They also gave me a UA sheet that had a web address to file a claim about the injury.

At the F/A's request, the paramedics met me after the plane landed. They looked at my arm and saw it was red in spots (where my other forearm had none). When I asked about the possible blistering, they said that it would have happened already if it was going to -- so I felt relieved not having to worry about that happening. My arm was red for about a day and then disappeared as well as the pain.

That being said, I understand that accidents happen, but I did not expect to get injured on a flight and spend the entire flight in discomfort holding an ice pack. I also really don't like the way that the F/A's were more about CYA than anything else.

Does anyone else have a similar experience? How did you handle it? What would be the appropriate response to expect and/or ask for from UA, if any?

Thanks.