Flight attendants onboard a JetBlue flight to the Bahamas allegedly refused to provide First Aid to a passenger who got her foot entangled seatbelt that was hanging down into the aisle, sending her tumbling to the floor and fracturing her ankle in the process.
Maria Mistretta of Suffolk, New York State, is now suing the airline following the July 23, 2022, incident, which also left her with deep vein thrombosis – a potentially lethal condition that occurs when a blood clot forms in a deep vein which is typically in the leg.
Late last month, Maria and her husband Salvatore Mistretta filed the lawsuit against JetBlue in a Queens, New York, court demanding compensation from JetBlue under the Montreal Convention which allows injured passengers to claim damages up to the equivalent of $170,000.
The Mistrettas claim that during the flight from New York to the Bahamas, Maria got up from her seat and stepped into the aisle, but as she went to take her next step, her foot became entangled in a seatbelt that was dangling down into the aisle.
Maria was dragged backwards and sent her tumbling to the floor. As she fell to the floor, she heard her ankle crack as it twisted in the seatbelt.
An off-duty nurse who just happened to be a passenger on the flight rushed to Maria’s aid to check that she wasn’t suffering from concussion while her husband and another good samaritan passenger worked to free her foot and get her back in her seat.
At this point, the Mistretta’s asked the flight attendants for a First Aid kit and some ice to apply to her swelling ankle, but the crew allegedly refused to assist because everything had already been packed away in preparation for the plane’s arrival in the Bahamas.
On arrival, the Mistretta’s were then made to wait for all the other passengers to disembark, and a wheelchair brought to assist Maria was allegedly broken.
JetBlue representatives in the Bahamas then allegedly recommended against calling an ambulance to get the Mistrettas to a nearby hospital and instead advised them to return straight away to New York to get help in the United States.
In order to do so, court documents allege that the Mistrettas were forced to book a return flight the same day and left to their own devices to get through immigration and customs and navigate the airport while Maria sat in the same broken wheelchair.
Once they were finally onboard their return flight, the Mistrettas once again requested ice and a First Aid kit from the flight attendants. Bizarrely, the crew again refused this request because doing so would require writing an incident report and as the accident didn’t happen on their flight, they wouldn’t write up a report.
Once they finally got back to New York late the same day, they went to the emergency room where Maria was found to have a fractured ankle, along with DVT and a bad back which had been aggravated from an old injury.
Under Article 17 of the Montreal Convention, airlines liable for injuries sustained by passengers during the course of an international flight, including boarding and deplaning.
Airlines have few defences in the case of a claim under the Montreal Convention, although they can avoid liability if they prove the accident was the result of the passenger’s own negligence. In some cases, they can also pin the blame on another passenger.
In addition to their claim under the Montreal Convention, the Mistrettas are suing JetBlue for inflicting emotional distress.
Matt’s take
There are some pretty serious allegations in this lawsuit and it will be interesting to see how JetBlue responds to the allegations that its flight crew failed to provide First Aid to Maria Mistretta.
On the face of it, there is no reason why First Aid couldn’t have been provided, and the excuse that these items were packed away in preparation for landing seems pretty unjustifiable.
As for the main cause of the claim that JetBlue is liable for a dangling seatbelt, it will certainly be worth watching how a court deals with this – if, of course, this lawsuit even gets that far.
In most cases, airlines are able to settle these cases out of court which makes case law pretty hard to come by.
But what items from the first aid kit was she looking for? If she does not have any wounds, there is nothing in the kit that can help her.
Also, there’s no EMT at the airport? Airline rep recommending flying back to the US instead of seeing a local doctor? Sounds like someone is looking for an opportunistic payout.
The only thing in a first aid kit (not all have them) would be an ace wrap to stabilize the ankle. Nothing else would apply if no open wounds. Not sure why they wouldn’t recommend a local hospital. I agree though, they are looking for an opportunistic payout.
Many first aid kits have the pack that when you break become an instant cold pack.
Exactly! How hard is it to get some ice & if available in 1st aid, an ace bandage. I would sue them too! I mean really….how hard would it be to get her some ice??? I would never fly them again with such customer service!!! 😠😡😠😡😠😡😠😡
They do have what is called a portable ice pack that you twist and it starts getting cold. That would have been perfect to use on the fractured ankle and the swelling and you do find those in all first aid kits. I do know this because I personally fractured my ankle and we took the first aid kits and there was an ice pack inside you just had to twist it and it would start getting cold and applied it to the ankle so the swelling would go down.. I don’t see a payout I see a neglective company towards helping the customers and I think they get what they deserve when this goes to court or if it goes to court.
Bandages to stabilize the injury so it would not dangle and bounce around as she was forced to endure unnecessary pain (while securing a return flight) due to their denial of basic care! Neither plane wanted to sacrifice their precious incident report percentage rather than provide basic customer care! Shameful!
This makes no sense at all. If I read this correctly, they waited 2 years to file a lawsuit. Nope, not believing any of this. There is no way no medical service was offered. No way that the crew didn’t file an incident report. Nope, I do not believe the plaintiffs
An ace or rolled gauze bandage would have helped stabilize the ankle. I’m not sure if an airplane first aide kit would have it, but most large ones I’ve seen also have instant ice packs. I suspect an airplane kit might also have tylenol or ibuprofen for pain, as well.
For use of the first aid kit there are actually several items that could have been used depending on the size of the first aid kit automatically that comes to mind is there should have been possibly two or more ice packs instant cold ice packs these are ice packs that you could just punch or shake really hard and then they become instantly cold of these would have helped reduce swelling and help reduced some of the pain and also give me injured flyer some sort of small comfort and knowing that at least they were trying to help her but also remember there was the nurse that was with her and so if there were other items on the kit again depending on the size of the first aid kit the nurse may have been able to even do more by stabilizing the ankle and using the ice packs and time it would cause or some kind of other material again once again the size of the first aid kit Maya had sling material and tie that with the ice pack and hold it in a place and getting possibly even a couple of magazines from the plane and you do the screen material to tie around the magazines to hold the ankle in place and thus reducing the chances of her doing any movement or less movement of the ankle therefore possibly causing any more harm or injury as far as going back to New York is ridiculous because anywhere they would have went to country Island whatever us to have had a hospital or medic or medical facility where they could have x-rayed her and then depending on x-ray treated her accordingly with a hard cast or possibly a soft cast at least something to hold her in place a little more rigidly until she could get back to either a full pledge emergency room and further evaluation there from orthopedic doctor and again I’m sure that the nurse that was with her would be more than willing to stay with her and I’m sure that the airline would have no hesitation on whatsoever through five and back at no cost to New York again and if there was business class on this airline then make sure that they replace in just a class or maybe even I don’t know if they have first class but if they had first left put them in the most comfortable seats and in the most comfortable position on the plane and return the nurse back to where she was originally going to and again at no charge and been making sure that hits the nurse helped out that she be compensated some way by the airline in the form of either through travel hotel stay maybe restaurant reimbursement and making sure that they know that she was a big help in this situation they were glad that she was there to help
OMG that long, run-on, rambling sentence was almost impossible to read and comprehend! Now my eyes hurt! Did anyone ever teach you basic Englisg grammar or writing skills?!? Your paragraph made so little sense! What a moron.
Planes usually have ice for drinks. There is no excuse for not providing ice, an ace bandage, Tylenol, and a WORKING WHEEELCHAIR. Sue the pants off them!
Yes indeed this does seem opportunistic. Nothing from the first aid kit would have helped a possible fractured ankle. Ice would have perhaps helped swelling and to a certain degree pain. Analgesics could have been given to her though. I am amazed that a dangling seatbelt could cause this as it would have to be unfastened to “dangle” so there would be no “loop” to get tangled up in. A “bad back” is not a clinical diagnosis so that is very misleading. The airline should never have accepted her on the return flight without medical clearance so there could perhaps be negligence there. She should have sought medical attention in the Bahamas and flown home when deemed fit to fly by the treating doctor.
I speak as ex long haul UK Cabin Crew, I’m a Registered Nurse and was a flying medic for many years.
First aid kits have packages that when broken created an ice pack. It says in original details that’s precisely what she asked for. Apparently in addition to knowing nothing about first aid kits, your reading comprehension isn’t up to snuff.
As ex cabin crew I am fully aware of what is in the various types of first aid kits that aircraft carry. As well as my nursing qualifications I have a post-grad diploma in aviation medicine and I am therefore obviously more qualified to comment on this subject than you are Steve.
It would have been quicker to get ice from the galley than use an ice pack from the first aid kit and no-one in their right mind would try to stabilise the ankle without giving the injured person sufficient analgesia. Depending on how the fracture presented, you could support it with cushions and or bandages but you would leave yourself open to litigation, especially in the US. This individual is obviously looking for money but no matter what the crew did it woul dhave not changed her clinical outcome. They could only treat some of the symptoms, not the actual injury.
Please re-read my post and note the other pertinent points I have made in it.
Just more people looking for a payout.
Shame on PYOK for even publishing this garbage.
Nothing but frivolous tort.
People including you, seem awfully quick to judgment on this. I have seen some quite unreasonable behavior on the part of airline crews and I think one should let the courts decide this one.
Agree 100%
Yes! Totally agree. No compassion whatsoever from the crew!
Shame on you Jim . For your info I am a woman on in years I asked the stewardess to please lift my carryon to the above luggage compartment who refused to help . Seems some people simply want to be placed on the employee list to receive their check .
Tell me Jim what would you have done different .
The stewardess can have a bad back and that’s why she may refuse to help. On the other hand, she could ask her colleague to help instead. .
My wife is a flight attendant at a major US airline and they don’t lift bags either. If they are hurt lifting your bag they are out of luck as lifting passenger bags isn’t in their job purview.
If you can’t lift your bag then you either need to pack it lighter or check it. It is not the rest of the world’s job to work around you and your physical shortcomings.
As far as this bs story, I stand by my original statement. It’s tort and will be tossed out as such. The only reason these lawyer take these cases is in the hopes the airline settles rather than fight in court. Cheaper to settle sometimes, even if you would win at trial.
I agree. The “headline” is misleading and would seem to accuse JetBlue of negligence. Maybe they will want to sue PYOK for possible defamation?
Jet blue must have some mighty long seat belts. I don’t recall seeing seat belts so long that they were so close to the floor that you could trip on them.
I’ve seen enough people in aisle seats get up and leave that if seat belts could do this, it would have happened more frequently
How does one’s foot get caught in a dangling seat belt. Are the seat belts even long enough to hit the floor?? As far as the FA’s not offering assistance on the flight back, it didn’t happen on their flight. What could they have done. Also; the aggravated “bad back’? Ok…
If the aisle person’s seat belt was unbuckled and dangled over the armrest into the aisle, absolutely someone could trip on it. And the FA on the way back – what could they have done, you ask? Well they could have given her the ice cubes and a bandage to stabilize the ankle, for starters, instead of taking the “I don’t want to get involved” tack.
No, they are designed to not be long enough to go into the aisle.
But you go ahead and quickly believe the bulletpoints that a LAWYER willfully sends to the media.
Do you see the problem with stuff like this? Do you work in the airlines, Cheryl?
lol money grab!
She asked for ice. And yes, seat belts dangle. She broke her ankle and also has a diagnosis of DVT. You people are shameless 🤬.
They could gave wrapped her ankle in an ace bandage to stabilize it.
Poor customer service.
They should just give me her the first aid kit to satisfy her instead of denied her even tho they know there’s not much it can do … just give her the damn kit . Even on the way back as well … so she won’t bitch and try to sue you … easy . But y’all said no and didn’t seem to care for your customer just prove unprofessional . Even if she was a brat or unreasonable you didn’t need to be unprofessional. Now you got a law suit lmfao dumb .
Re: Matt’s take on whether or JetBlue will be found liable. The airline is strictly liable for any physical injuries to passengers caused by an unexpected or unusual event that occurs on the aircraft or during the course of embarking or disembarking. As you mentioned, there’s a cap on damages of around $170,000 if JetBlue can show that they weren’t negligent in allowing the accident to occur. JetBlue’s negligence (and of course the value of the passenger’s damages) is the only thing to be decided by the court. This passenger has already won her case on liability. No reasonable passenger expects that a seatbelt will be dangling in the aisle to such an extent that it could cause a serious tripping hazard.
This is one for the lawyers to decide. However, if you are (the flight attendants ) protected by the “Good Samaritan Law,” you are protected from being sued if you decide to try to help someone.
Besides the Good Samaritan Law there’s the Bad Samaritan Law which states that if you fail to assist a person, a passenger, in this case by the flight attendants, then you could be in trouble. But that would be company policies that would decide that.