CharlotteYork

My mother-in-law flew SW today and made a connection on her way to her final destination. When the plane stopped, she stayed seated in the aisle seat, and another passenger opened the over-head bin. A very heavy bag fell on my mother-in-law's head.

Unfortunately, she is elderly and on blood-thinners and was complaining of a headache and neck-pain due to the impact. As such, she was transported to the local hospital via ambulance and diagnosed with a concussion. (She initially had difficulty recalling the year and the President's name and is still in quite a bit of pain.)

Obviously, things happen in life, but I was wondering what Southwest's policy is regarding helping her with her insurance co-pays. An incident report was taken at the airport while waiting for the medics, and the whole thing was witnessed by an off-duty flight attendant who was seated nearby.

Does anyone know if Southwest has a general liability policy that may help pay her out-of-pocket expenses?

dlaue

All airlines have liability insurance. But....southwest did not open that overhead bin.

joshua362

I am almost positive WN will bend over backwards to pay co-pays and out of pocket expenses in lieu of the threat of a personal injury lawsuit. Sadly, it happened on their plane, have deep pockets and the fact they didn't open the bin is irreverent in today's litigious world. While all airlines do have liability insurance, it is cost effective to only insure actionable events that exceed a certain threshold (could be a million dollars or more for a large corporation) so any settlement is likely coming straight out of WN pockets.

That is your Risk Management 101 lesson for today. Carry on...

satman40

Sue the bag owner, SW made the announcement about bag shift.

Maybe on day they will not allow carry ons on the planes.

I would moved over to a window seat, easy to get bumped on the outside.

Often1

Wrong response. No need to sue anybody if all she's looking for is a couple of hundred buckks. WN, like all carriers, factors this stuff into the background noise of risk management. A FA witnesses this and will certainly have filed an incident report.

Just have your MIL (not you) send a short note to WN explaining what happened, attaching the invoices showing the copays and WN will pull the incident report and you will likely have a check in short order.

But, before you do this, make sure that your MIL really is OK. WN will want a release of future claims, which is fair. But, not a good idea if there will be ongoing medical expenses. In the latter case, have your MIL speak with her lawyer before signing anything.

CharlotteYork

You're right. No is suing. She's an elderly lady living on social security and I was only wondering if Southwest has something similar to a premises liability policy that might help pay any out-of-pocket expenses.

She is still extremely uncomfortable today, but we are hopeful that, with time, she'll be feeling better. Thank you for your responses.

Often1

I don't think you need to worry about what WN has for insurance. That's an internal corporate decision. WN, like all operating businesses simply calculates that some # of bags will fall on pax over the course of a year and that those pax will suffer varying degrees of injury.

Sounds cold, but it's just a cost of doing business to WN (like parking tickets to Fedex).

What your MIL seeks sounds pretty mild and all she needs to worry about is submitting stuff clearly and promptly.

Dadaluma83

So if I get a cup of coffee at the breakfast buffet at a hotel in the morning, turn around, and stumble and throw the cup into someone's lap, is the hotel liable for possible medical treatment for burns of the unfortunate victim even though it would be a combination of my fault for being clumsy and just being an accident?

Seems ridiculous to me how an entity that has nothing to do with the accident has to assume liability. Even so I hope the OP's MIL is taken care of, hopefully it is just a co-pay and no need for any ongoing medical treatment.

daw4888

That is correct. Just the same as if a kid runs into you yard, falls and breaks his arm, you can be held liable.

joshua362

Its not right, but it is just the reality of today regarding personal injury claims. When a lawyer smells 33-40%, there is some serious money to be made and we all pay for it in our insurance premiums...

Often1

While unrelated analogies never work and are not worth the time worrying about, the fact is that in your example, the property would at least me sued and would likely be held liable. That is why any property you can imagine will have insurance to cover damages caused by third parties.

There is a big difference between the way you think the world ought to run and the way it runs. All OP is looking for is some help for his mother with copays. Not some major change to the way the legal system runs in the US.

Miles Man

Speaking from experience, the complaint is with the person who opened the bin, and not the airline.

jb3t

Out of curiosity, who took the incident report. The airport, police, or southwest?

I saw this happen to a guy on one of my flights and the FA held him there to fill out paperwork. If there's something on file with Southwest, I think you may have a shot.

jrobert189

No one wants bad publicity or the risk of an opportunistic plaintiff's lawyer suing a deep pocket. Keep the pressure on, and you'll get reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses from Southwest. Pursue the passenger who opened the bin and you'll probably be going after someone who would be unable to satisfy a judgment in the event you actually went through a lawsuit and won.

travelingchumley

If someone went to the hospital, there has to be an incident report. The man opening the bin is the person responsible.