Delta cut my leg
 

On my last international flight home a delta flight attendant hit my leg with a drink cart causing a cut on my leg. The flight attendant did not acknowledge any thing was wrong even when I asked for a bandage to stop the bleeding. I sent an email to delta asking what they could do. The next day they called me when I was half asleep offering 10k in miles I said that was fine as it was just a cut but now the cut has turned into a scar that I will have for the rest of my life. So I called delta back asking what they could do and they said well we gave you 10k in miles and thats all we can do. So I'm asking you guys if you think this is fair?

Document the injury and reach out to DL more formally. Don't take the 10K miles, since it could be considered a settlement.

It's hard to evaluate compensation without seeing the wound, can you upload a picture?

The problem is they already gave me the miles and said they are done :(

Once I hit 5 posts I will. Thanks

Totally agree, that without seeing it, it's very difficult to say OP should get more than 10K miles...OP might have done just fine or been tragically under compensated.

i am sorry but when you accepted their offer of 10,000 miles that is pretty much a done deal. When I had a problem I negotiated the compensation and was happy with what I was able to negotiate. I always push back the 10,000 miles unless its a minor issue and explain to them why 10,000 is not enough for the compensation. Actually I try to get the flight attendant to document what took place or the baggage service office to add documentation.

Whoever created the problem must fill out an incident report. If I were the OP I would have asked for the pursuer to fill out an incident report and ask for a copy then I would have went to my Doctor and submitted the evaluation to Delta(I.e. a permanent scar) and for them to cover all medical costs as a result of the injury). If I felt the need I would have asked for Airport Paramedics to meet the flight to look at the injury so it gets documented in my Delta record. Anything to document is what needs to be done.

The flight attendant is responsible for the drink cart and must take responsibility for injury. i am wondering if you were warned before the cart came through your section? Was your leg out in the aisle? How did the cart hit your leg?

First of all OP is a new FT member and may or may not know how the Delta compensation system works. Also what appears to be small to one person may be big to another. If it were serious I am sure the flight would have diverted to the nearest airport. Perhaps this was only a small paper cut or a contusion. If the OP thinks its serious then he or she should go see a Doctor and not have accepted the 10,000 miles right off the bat. I understand the OP was half asleep and answered the call(Perhaps Jet Lag) and accepted the offer.

Also Delta had to have reported it via the incident reporting feature on the Passenger Service Tablet whether its a minor or major injury. If this was not done then there is a liability issue. I believe this incident may fall under the lack of "Duty of Care". The OP should ask to be put in touch with the Risk Management Department and get a copy of the incident report or report the incident and have them talk with the Flight Attendant and puruer of the flight to see why an incident was not reported. Also the OP should ho to his or her Doctor to evaluate it and to write a letter documenting the incident along with the contact info to the Doctor and the OP then needs to submit it to the Risk Management Officer dealing with the OP's case and ask for further monetary compensation. If its so serious and debilitating you could retain a Personal Injury Lawyer who deals with airlines but it can be hard to prove the case.

One of the reasons I sit by the window is to avoid the drink cart from hitting me in the aisle. I can imagine that the OP may have been sleeping and their foot was in the aisle. The Flight Attendants are usually so careful and they say"Excuse me sir/madam I am coming through with the drink cart can you please put your feet out of the aisle". I know that sometimes due to turbulence and the flight attendants forgetting to set the brake on the cart the cart can roll down the aisle uncontrollably. Hence this is why you see two flight attendants on each side of the cart to avoid injury to themselves or the passengers. Those carts do weigh quite a bit.


I hope we do hear back from the OP but I somewhat doubt it as with other first posts of this nature here on FT.

Don't need to see a picture or know whether OP has suffered permanent damage. He settled his claim for 10,000 miles and this is over and done.

This is why settling these things too quickly is a bad idea. What if it had become infected and he had his leg amputated? Still worth 10,000 miles?

The DL risk management people are not dumb. They almost certainly had an incident report to review and knew that if they could get rid of this for a couple of SM, it was a win.

This-> I don't think OP settled anything. Doesn't OP have to sign an acknowledgement to the effect "I consider the 10k miles as final and absolute payment for xxxxx" for it to be considered a final settlement? If the cut is really serious and OP incurs expenses and spends time to rectify it, I think he/she may have a claim, but I'll defer to a legal opinion here. The point is, the 10k miles could be a customer service gesture for inconvenience caused, not payment for documented damages.

That is what may save OP here. Often times, DL is very explicit that any miles etc. given out are only a goodwill gesture, not an acceptance of responsibility. That being said, if DL retains a recording of the phone call, how the conversation went would likely determine if it was a goodwill gesture or if the OP thought he was accepting compensation and only demanded more once finding out he could have gotten more. The former is an angle that OP might be able to pursue on his own with minimal chance of success. Given that the OP only needed a bandaid, I wouldn't think it would be worth a lawyer's time. If it was the latter, its over.

10,000 is just insulting. That's not even enough for a one way upgrade.

Accepting the DL settlement of 10k makes it harder to negotiate with DL, because in their system the matter is closed.

However this is NOT the same as a legal settlement, the OP has not given up any legal options to pursue this further.

Is the scar ending the OP's career as an underwear model? Who doesn't have a scar or two (or more) on their legs? I'd hate to speculate here on what's fair with the tiny bit of information given about the severity of the wound.