A 76-year-old woman had to be taken to the hospital shortly before a Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong was due to depart for London Heathrow after she was injured by an item of ‘misplaced’ luggage.
Monday night’s 13-hour flight to London was delayed by more than an hour after an item of hand luggage fell out of an overhead locker and onto the elderly woman’s head, a spokesperson for the Hong Kong-based carrier confirmed.
Cathay Pacific said the woman received First Aid from flight attendants before being taken to a local hospital. The injured woman, along with her family were then provided with hotel accommodation and booked onto alternative flights, the spokesperson added.
In the end, Cathay Pacific flight CX255 departed its Hong Kong hub just over an hour late at 12:20 am, although strong tailwinds helped the pilots to make up for much of that lost time with the Boeing 777-300 arriving at London Heathrow just 10 minutes later than scheduled.
The woman may be able to claim compensation from Cathay Pacific under Article 17 of the Montreal Convention, which makes airlines liable for injuries and death sustained by passengers during a flight, as well as boarding and disembarkation.
Airlines are generally held strictly liable for any injuries sustained by passengers unless they can prove that the injury was a result of their own negligence.
In some cases, however, airlines have thought up some unique excuses to get around the Montreal Convention. Back in 2020, Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus filed a third-party complaint against one of its passengers after another customer claimed compensation when they were injured by a bottle of Duty Free booze that had fallen out of an overhead locker.
Felicia Nelson sued Aer Lingus following the accident on flight AI131 from Bradley International Airport in Hartford to Dublin, but the airline said it wasn’t responsible and that another passenger should be held liable.
The third-party complaint alleged that Joseph Lorenzo had recklessly removed his own bag from the overhead locker, causing the bottle of alcohol to fall out and hit Nelson on the head.
The question of who was responsible wasn’t, however, ever answered as the parties ended up settling out of court.
