header while exiting the plane - options?
Jul 8, 2012, 10:42 am
#16
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NWould I have a legitimate complaint with either Delta or EYW to get reimbursed for these costs? While still passable, in my opinion it created an unsafe environment. The fact that there's the lip at the exit of the plane that you need to step over to a degree masked how far of a drop the first step was. To me, it's potentially no different from a public sidewalk that's been pushed up and creates a protroding lip: passable, but potentially unsafe.
Jul 8, 2012, 10:49 am
#17
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Thanks for all the replies. I'm not looking for any punitive damages. There was mention that "you'd get to the tarmac via stairs". If all the stairs were that height, maybe there's nothing can be done. But there was a significant difference (in my opinion) between thar first step and the rest of them. A, "Watch out for the first step exitiing the plane, it's a sleep drop" announcement might have been appropriate.
I'm not an aviation expert to know if the height of the those moveable stairs is adjustable at the front (so that it's close to level with the exit of the plane, even if produces a slight incline when walking down). My thought was I'd wait until our departing flight, and notice when boarding the plane what my impression of the height from the stairs onto the plane was. If it's lower, then that would seem to mean there might be some adjustment possible.
I'll have to wait a little while, to see what other bills might come in. I didn't even think about the ER fee until the admitting nurse said, "you owe a copay" as I was getting everyone together to leave the hospital.
Jeff
I'm not an aviation expert to know if the height of the those moveable stairs is adjustable at the front (so that it's close to level with the exit of the plane, even if produces a slight incline when walking down). My thought was I'd wait until our departing flight, and notice when boarding the plane what my impression of the height from the stairs onto the plane was. If it's lower, then that would seem to mean there might be some adjustment possible.
I'll have to wait a little while, to see what other bills might come in. I didn't even think about the ER fee until the admitting nurse said, "you owe a copay" as I was getting everyone together to leave the hospital.
Jeff
Jul 8, 2012, 11:06 am
#18
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Assuming no change in her status, I think a lawyer is overkill.
Jul 8, 2012, 11:22 am
#19
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To a degree, I was sort of asking if I did submit a claim for reimbursement, would it be to Delta or EYW? Assuming it was the ground staff who might have improperly set the height of the stairs, I'm not sure if they are airline employess (directly or contractors) or the city's. Though I guess to a degree, I could take the naive approach and assume it's the airline's, and let them tell me it's not.
Assuming no change in her status, I think a lawyer is overkill.
Assuming no change in her status, I think a lawyer is overkill.
My guess is that they would name the ground crew, the airport, the stair manufacturer, the plane manufacturer, and Delta. From what little I know about tort law, the onus is on every involved party to prove why they have no fault in the injury.
Jul 8, 2012, 4:09 pm
#20
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Thanks for all the replies. I'm not looking for any punitive damages. There was mention that "you'd get to the tarmac via stairs". If all the stairs were that height, maybe there's nothing can be done. But there was a significant difference (in my opinion) between thar first step and the rest of them. A, "Watch out for the first step exitiing the plane, it's a sleep drop" announcement might have been appropriate.
I'm not an aviation expert to know if the height of the those moveable stairs is adjustable at the front (so that it's close to level with the exit of the plane, even if produces a slight incline when walking down). My thought was I'd wait until our departing flight, and notice when boarding the plane what my impression of the height from the stairs onto the plane was. If it's lower, then that would seem to mean there might be some adjustment possible.
I'll have to wait a little while, to see what other bills might come in. I didn't even think about the ER fee until the admitting nurse said, "you owe a copay" as I was getting everyone together to leave the hospital.
Jeff
I'm not an aviation expert to know if the height of the those moveable stairs is adjustable at the front (so that it's close to level with the exit of the plane, even if produces a slight incline when walking down). My thought was I'd wait until our departing flight, and notice when boarding the plane what my impression of the height from the stairs onto the plane was. If it's lower, then that would seem to mean there might be some adjustment possible.
I'll have to wait a little while, to see what other bills might come in. I didn't even think about the ER fee until the admitting nurse said, "you owe a copay" as I was getting everyone together to leave the hospital.
Jeff
Last edited by MR_MAMA; Jul 9, 2012 at 11:00 am
Jul 8, 2012, 4:54 pm
#21
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She fell. It sounds like she is OK. Declare victory and move on.
There is insurance in place to cover the majority of the expenses. That is what insurance is for.
Not sure why one would feel compelled to launch a mission, and spend a lot of time, seeking recovery from a third party over what was a fairly minor incident with limited out of pocket expenses. Not aiming this directly at the OP, but this "it must be someone else's fault" mentality is one reason why it is so expensive to do business in this country these days.
And the last thing we need is more "exercise caution" announcements. My goodness, we all encounter steps and curbs and uneven surfaces all the time. Sometimes we don't see something and fall. Sometimes we're distracted and fall. Sometimes the sun is bright and we're unable to see something and fall. Things happen sometimes. We don't need an endless string of "watch out for this, watch out for that, exercise extreme caution doing this" etc., etc. There are too many CYA worthless announcements on the plane already, and the more that are made, the more they all blur together and become part of the background noise.
There is insurance in place to cover the majority of the expenses. That is what insurance is for.
Not sure why one would feel compelled to launch a mission, and spend a lot of time, seeking recovery from a third party over what was a fairly minor incident with limited out of pocket expenses. Not aiming this directly at the OP, but this "it must be someone else's fault" mentality is one reason why it is so expensive to do business in this country these days.
And the last thing we need is more "exercise caution" announcements. My goodness, we all encounter steps and curbs and uneven surfaces all the time. Sometimes we don't see something and fall. Sometimes we're distracted and fall. Sometimes the sun is bright and we're unable to see something and fall. Things happen sometimes. We don't need an endless string of "watch out for this, watch out for that, exercise extreme caution doing this" etc., etc. There are too many CYA worthless announcements on the plane already, and the more that are made, the more they all blur together and become part of the background noise.
Jul 8, 2012, 5:03 pm
#22
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I am glad your wife is going to be OK. It seems likely that DL will cover any out of pocket costs for her medical treatment.
Otherwise, well, we all have to walk down stairs in our daily life.
Jul 8, 2012, 5:29 pm
#23
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To a degree, I was sort of asking if I did submit a claim for reimbursement, would it be to Delta or EYW? Assuming it was the ground staff who might have improperly set the height of the stairs, I'm not sure if they are airline employess (directly or contractors) or the city's. Though I guess to a degree, I could take the naive approach and assume it's the airline's, and let them tell me it's not.
Assuming no change in her status, I think a lawyer is overkill.
Assuming no change in her status, I think a lawyer is overkill.
Was something like that provided?
Jul 8, 2012, 7:11 pm
#26
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Jul 8, 2012, 7:32 pm
#27
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She fell. It sounds like she is OK. Declare victory and move on.
There is insurance in place to cover the majority of the expenses. That is what insurance is for.
Not sure why one would feel compelled to launch a mission, and spend a lot of time, seeking recovery from a third party over what was a fairly minor incident with limited out of pocket expenses. Not aiming this directly at the OP, but this "it must be someone else's fault" mentality is one reason why it is so expensive to do business in this country these days.
And the last thing we need is more "exercise caution" announcements. My goodness, we all encounter steps and curbs and uneven surfaces all the time. Sometimes we don't see something and fall. Sometimes we're distracted and fall. Sometimes the sun is bright and we're unable to see something and fall. Things happen sometimes. We don't need an endless string of "watch out for this, watch out for that, exercise extreme caution doing this" etc., etc. There are too many CYA worthless announcements on the plane already, and the more that are made, the more they all blur together and become part of the background noise.
There is insurance in place to cover the majority of the expenses. That is what insurance is for.
Not sure why one would feel compelled to launch a mission, and spend a lot of time, seeking recovery from a third party over what was a fairly minor incident with limited out of pocket expenses. Not aiming this directly at the OP, but this "it must be someone else's fault" mentality is one reason why it is so expensive to do business in this country these days.
And the last thing we need is more "exercise caution" announcements. My goodness, we all encounter steps and curbs and uneven surfaces all the time. Sometimes we don't see something and fall. Sometimes we're distracted and fall. Sometimes the sun is bright and we're unable to see something and fall. Things happen sometimes. We don't need an endless string of "watch out for this, watch out for that, exercise extreme caution doing this" etc., etc. There are too many CYA worthless announcements on the plane already, and the more that are made, the more they all blur together and become part of the background noise.
I nearly fell in a jet bridge at ORD this winter. They de-ice their aircraft at the gate, and sometimes get glycol into the jet bridge. We were warned by the GA before boarding, and I still nearly fell flat on my you know what.
Jul 8, 2012, 8:39 pm
#28
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Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't see why it's up to Delta to pay because OP's wife fell? KeyWest doesn't have jet bridges, so air stairs are used. There isn't a dangerous gap anywhere on these stairs. They're normal stairs. Hold on to the handrail if you're unsure, and everything will be fine.
I'm sorry OP's wife fell, I'm sure it wasn't an enjoyable way to begin a vacation, but there's no reason to hold an airline accountable for their mis-step.
I'm sorry OP's wife fell, I'm sure it wasn't an enjoyable way to begin a vacation, but there's no reason to hold an airline accountable for their mis-step.
Jul 8, 2012, 8:43 pm
#29
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Jul 8, 2012, 9:05 pm
#30
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I wasn't looking to turn this into a discussion of the legal system. However, since we're there ... I think most "requests for compensation", start out with sincere intentions. Particularly if there's a lawyer involved (which I'll repeat - at this time it's no where on my horizon), I doubt it would get that far unless there was they at least thought there was legal merit to the case. Whether it's enough to convince a judge or jury, that's a different matter. I'm sure there are lots of seemingly frivolous lawsuits. But there are probably also many where there was a legitimate wrong done, and often financial aspects are the only way to address it.
If my wife had just fallen down the stairs, I'd have never written this post, because the fault would be 100% her's. I understand there's some inherent potential for accident in anything we do. Would I complain if I slipped on a wet jetway? No - I wouldn't be surprised that when it's raining out, it would be wet. But how about if a jetway wasn't pulled up to the plane, but instead had a 6" gap, and my foot went through it? That's completely different (IMHO).
If questioned, my arguement would be:
- I believe myself to be a relatively agile person
- I thought the drop was excessive for me
- I'd think there should have been a way to lessen that drop; my feeling is it probably wasn't properly set
In terms of a poster who thought I'm propogating the litigation problem, I don't believe that to be fair. At least in my state, with auto insurance, I have the choice to choose less compensation rights in event of an injury (limited tort vs full tort). Delta didn't offer me a 40% lower rate (about the limited vs full tort difference) in exchange for giving up the right to request compensation from them. So part pf the cost of my ticket already includes expected payout compensation.
No one here has ever received any type of "we're sorry / we were wrong" compensation from Delta: FF miles for a delayed bag, discount voucher for a messed up reservation, or a free upgrade due to whatever? In essence, it's Delta stating, "We realize your previous travel experience wasn't up to our standards; let us try to make it up to you". I'm not sure what I'm potentially asking for is much different. If it ends up just being a few hundred dollars, that's a lot less value than what some of those could be.
Jeff
If my wife had just fallen down the stairs, I'd have never written this post, because the fault would be 100% her's. I understand there's some inherent potential for accident in anything we do. Would I complain if I slipped on a wet jetway? No - I wouldn't be surprised that when it's raining out, it would be wet. But how about if a jetway wasn't pulled up to the plane, but instead had a 6" gap, and my foot went through it? That's completely different (IMHO).
If questioned, my arguement would be:
- I believe myself to be a relatively agile person
- I thought the drop was excessive for me
- I'd think there should have been a way to lessen that drop; my feeling is it probably wasn't properly set
In terms of a poster who thought I'm propogating the litigation problem, I don't believe that to be fair. At least in my state, with auto insurance, I have the choice to choose less compensation rights in event of an injury (limited tort vs full tort). Delta didn't offer me a 40% lower rate (about the limited vs full tort difference) in exchange for giving up the right to request compensation from them. So part pf the cost of my ticket already includes expected payout compensation.
No one here has ever received any type of "we're sorry / we were wrong" compensation from Delta: FF miles for a delayed bag, discount voucher for a messed up reservation, or a free upgrade due to whatever? In essence, it's Delta stating, "We realize your previous travel experience wasn't up to our standards; let us try to make it up to you". I'm not sure what I'm potentially asking for is much different. If it ends up just being a few hundred dollars, that's a lot less value than what some of those could be.
Jeff
