Luggage Fell on Head - Compensation Offered

Incapuppy

markymoo wrote: »

Surely the OP should be sueing them, for not putting it in the compartment correctly.

Quite often your own hand luggage can be moved (adjusted within the locker) by passengers boarding after yourself.

Its a tricky one as to who should actually be to blame - the stewardess could have possibly opened the locker and the laptop fell out rather than her being directly responsible for it dropping on someone's head by moving the laptop about within the locker.

sturll

neowave wrote: »

Hi everyone,

i was hoping the mse community could help me decide on a compensation offer received recently...

I was flying with my older sister on a long haul virgin Atlantic flight. As it was due to take off the stewardess was fixing one of the overhead compartments when a laptop in a bag fell out and hit her square on the head. She had little support on the flight and was sick throughout with little assistance.

The flight was 10 hours.

She has been complaining of headaches and neusea since, and has not been able to work and is on medication from the doctor.

Virgin offered her just £30 compensation & a free return ecomnomy flight for one person.

She obviously does not want to fly long distance again, yet alone on her own.

I really do feel the offer is meagre compared to what actually happened.

Does anyone have any advices as to how to procede & try to get virgin to up there offer as im not vastly experienced in complaining etc.

Thanks all in advance.

Is it just me or will anyone else be placing their heads under where a stewardess is fixing a overhead bin in the hope a bag will fall on their head and they too will get a free flight

kathryn2

It's just you - head injuries really can be very serious.

Your sister should definitely get herself back to a doctor.

headpin

Act of God

MrSmartprice wrote: »

What on earth does this mean?

There has never been any evidence whatsoever of the existence of god. The term is not used in the insurance industry any more, they tend to deal with facts.:rolleyes:

.................

You are correct. The term now more generally used to cover matters that are considered to be outside the control of anyone is force majeure.

With regards to the actual incident. I would imagine that the offer from Virgin is, as stated previously, a goodwill offering and not an admission of liability. From the facts and information provided it is not easy to offer an opinion. However, for a claim to be successful the claimant would need to demonstarte that on the balance of probability that the Virgin cabin attendant was negligent. As the lap top was more than likley placed in the overhead locker by a fellow passenger the attendant was unlikely to be in a position to know whether the bag would fall when the locker was opened.

With regrads to letting the passenger travel, that would be a matter for the passenger to decide, unless they were so incapacitated that they could not rationally and reasonably take that decison themself. Why is it assumed that it is someone elses responsibility? The passenger needed to decide whether she felt fit enough to travel or not. The attendant clearly felt the passenger was fit, or I would imagine the passenger would have been "refused to fly".

You could try and progress a claim against Virgin. If you are lucky and what you are claiming looks reasonable they may just settle on a without prejudice basis as it is often cheaper for them to do this than fight the claim. If the claim is OTT they will pass it over to their insurers and they may well settle on a similar without prejudice basis or they may drag it through the Court.

Iwould say that this was just an unfortunate accident and that what Virgin have already offered is a a good deal. I believe that if the matter is pushed too hard Virgin will just say sue us and on what has been written above the likelihood is, IMO, the claim would not succeed.

Tozer

headpin wrote: »

Act of God


You are correct. The term now more generally used to cover matters that are considered to be outside the control of anyone is force majeure.

With regards to the actual incident. I would imagine that the offer from Virgin is, as stated previously, a goodwill offering and not an admission of liability. From the facts and information provided it is not easy to offer an opinion. However, for a claim to be successful the claimant would need to demonstarte that on the balance of probability that the Virgin cabin attendant was negligent. As the lap top was more than likley placed in the overhead locker by a fellow passenger the attendant was unlikely to be in a position to know whether the bag would fall when the locker was opened.

With regrads to letting the passenger travel, that would be a matter for the passenger to decide, unless they were so incapacitated that they could not rationally and reasonably take that decison themself. Why is it assumed that it is someone elses responsibility? The passenger needed to decide whether she felt fit enough to travel or not. The attendant clearly felt the passenger was fit, or I would imagine the passenger would have been "refused to fly".

You could try and progress a claim against Virgin. If you are lucky and what you are claiming looks reasonable they may just settle on a without prejudice basis as it is often cheaper for them to do this than fight the claim. If the claim is OTT they will pass it over to their insurers and they may well settle on a similar without prejudice basis or they may drag it through the Court.

Iwould say that this was just an unfortunate accident and that what Virgin have already offered is a a good deal. I believe that if the matter is pushed too hard Virgin will just say sue us and on what has been written above the likelihood is, IMO, the claim would not succeed.

Force majeure is an all encompassing word that very often includes act of God. Acts of God are still very commonly referred to in legal terms.

Tozer

Oh and in connection with the negligence of Virgin, it is not simply down to whether the flight attendant put the laptop in the overhead. The duty of care owed would extend to providing a reasonably safe environment for the passengers to fly in.

Whether this duty has been discharged will depend on all of the circumstances - had the cabin crew checked the overhead lockers when closing them, was it reasonably likely that the laptop may fall out, etc.

Steve_xx

Tozer wrote: »

Oh and in connection with the negligence of Virgin, it is not simply down to whether the flight attendant put the laptop in the overhead. The duty of care owed would extend to providing a reasonably safe environment for the passengers to fly in.

Whether this duty has been discharged will depend on all of the circumstances - had the cabin crew checked the overhead lockers when closing them, was it reasonably likely that the laptop may fall out, etc.

Indeed you are correct. We don't know all of the circumstances. The original poster said that the laptop fell out of the locker prior to the start of the flight and therefore no movement during the flight could have taken place. This could mean that another passenger, ie the owner of the laptop, had placed the item in a dangerous position in the overhead locker. If that is the case, then one might argue that this passenger is liable for the damage it has caused to another person. Equally, one might argiue that stewardesses should be more careful when they open the overhead lockers. A court might say that both laptop owner and stewardess are jointly and severally liable for the negligence.

Tozer

What would usually happen is that a Court may find that there had been contributory negligence if it not entirely down to the fault of the airline.

dmg24

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Symptoms like vomiting and constant headaches sound to me like a head injury rather than whiplash: although I am not medically qualified. Anyway, you really don't want to know what the long-term consequences of a head injury can be. The OP's first step should be to seek the best possible medical care, along with advice about what is likely to happen to her sister in the future. Only then will she be in a position to make a sensible decision about compensation.

And even at best, even if it is only whiplash, loss of several day's earnings is likely to be worth a good deal more than thirty pounds.

As you have said, you are not a doctor. However, a doctor has said that it is/ was whiplash. Without evidence to the contrary, I would rather go on the word of a medical professional than someone on an internet forum who has not even seen the person involved!

sturll

kathryn2 wrote: »

It's just you - head injuries really can be very serious.

Your sister should definitely get herself back to a doctor.

Give up!

A laptop bag falling about a foot onto someones head is hardly deadly.

Ateotd VS have offered them a free flight, what does she want the hotel and car throwing in too!

Get over it accidents happen.