slichy

Today I flew on on airline which, for the moment, I will not name.
My reservation was for economy class, and immediately before boarding I was upgraded automatically to business class (I am guessing thanks to my Silver status). During the flight, the passengers, myself included, were served a cheescake with cherries on top. One of the cherries on my cake had a pit left inside of it which, upon my biting on it, cause my tooth to break. I approached the flight attendants on the matter at which time the (lead?) flight attendant approached me to apologize for the matter, saying he would document the incident, but that he cannot offer me any compensation as this is an unusual situation. He refused to provide me with a record of his account of things, but was honest enough to give me a business card with his details, on which he wrote my name and flight number in his own handwriting. I would also note that while on one hand he was apologetic for the incident, he also tried to shirk responsibility by saying things to the effect of that having been a fruit cake and therefore it is not unlikely for there to be a pit in it, or asking me whether the broken tooth had a filling which would have expedited the tooth breakage, etc..
My question is, what would you do in this case? What kind of compensation, if any, would you expect in this case?

biggestbopper

First order of business, get the tooth fixed. Depending on how serious the break is you may be looking at a crown for around $800.

Ask the dentist what he or she thinks was the cause--could be you had a weak tooth or could be that darn pit.

Once you have an estimate of repair cost you will have some idea of what to ask the airline for.

I suspect that United has an inhouse policy for this sort of thing.

And, you should think about sending a faxed letter to United HQ addressed to the President about the incident right away stating that you have a dentist appointment in a few days to get the repair done.

behuman

Cherries DO have pits. When I see or bite into a cherry I expect such a pit.

If you are NOT in the US go to see your dentist, pay for it and take it as a lesson.

And welcome on FT, if you are a genuine poster.....

slichy

The cherries were preserved, supposedly pitted, cherries, not fresh cherries which you would obviously expect to have pits in. Fact of the matter is the rest of the cherries did not have pits in them.

behuman

Preserved cherries should of course be pitted which does not mean one should not be careful. I think in this case a nice letter describing the situation including the dentist bill should trigger a commercial gesture from the airline given that the incident has been documentated by the crew.

DeepUnderground

Cherries have pits most of the time, in my experience...

lacuadra

When you say tooth I am thinking molar. Depending on the force of the bite you sure can get a tooth partially chip/broken. If you had a filling then that is reason enough. Stay clear of popcorn or almonds for the same reason. Popcorn seeds cause tons of molar issues according to my dentist.

write to the airline documenting what happened. Maraschino cherries are expected to be pitted but machines fail too!

Get it fixed to avoid an abscess and best of luck.

slichy

Thanks for the replies. Is there a template somewhere for this kind of letter?

WilcoRoger

In the same situation on LH I alerted the purser - showed her the offending food item + piece of tooth. She was horrified, brought me a complaint form. After a couple of emails the airline promised to pay my dentist's bill

My dentist was unwilling to bill the airline directly, so I payed her and sent the bill to the airline. Before paying out, they asked me to sign a release that I won't look for further damages and paid.

Pat89339

I had a similar circumstance where I broke a tooth on a piece of the porcelain ramekin that was mixed in with the nuts.

In my instance they sent the claim to their insurance carrier to handle. It will not be like dealing with an airline customer service representative.

Ask them to refer it to their insurance carrier. The insurance company will contact you directly.

I was treated fairly.

Surface Interval

So do olives - but that does not mean one cannot sue over such a deal. One fine US congressman did just that - and won! Read here.

Tizzette

The other day I bit into a piece of shell from my bag of shelled walnuts. I had a piece of tooth break off chewing very crusty but delicious bread at Panera. OP chomped down on a cherry pit that had escaped being pitted, not some foreign object in his cake. If you eat, you will bite down on something harder than you expected sometimes.

Gamecock

I would let it go. Cherrys have pits, even occasionally if preserved.

Now if there was a foreign object in a food item I would pursue the issue.

Tailgater

Yeah, I would submit a claim. I wonder if airline would submit a claim to the cherry company (I doubt it). I once chomped down on a bone fragment in ground beef---should've tried to get SaveMart to compensate me for the subsequent crown. But, how do you go about "proving" some of these things? But, you know, sometimes these things end up being more hassle than it's worth, huh?

Often1

Without knowing OP's country of residence it is impossible to provide useful advice. As a general matter, if the costs of the "repair" are covered by a third party such as insurance, the claim should be handled through insurance. The insurer can then pursue the carrier, or not, as it chooses. This is one of the benefits of insurance. You are made whole and others spend their time fighting about it.

If indeed you have no coverage and are out of pocket, I would submit the invoices for the "repair" along with a short description of what happened, to the carrier. If the carrier reimburses or otherwise makes you whole in a way acceptable to you, the matter is over and amicably so.

If the carrier refuses, OP has the option of filing a lawsuit which, depending on the jurisdiction and the amount, may be in small claims court or not. Needless to say, the issues raised here, e.g., whether the carrier's food vendor or cherry provider need to be on the hook and whether OP might be said to be partially or wholly at fault.

Bottom line is that it never hurts to make a claim.