An American Airlines passenger is suing the airline after, she says, a pot of boiling hot coffee spilled on her injuring her genitals.
68-year-old Gina Mason was on a flight from Baltimore to Detroit when turbulence jostled the coffee pot on the serving cart. The contents went all over her lap, burning her skin badly.
During the flight, the pilot announced that passengers should stay in their seats and fasten their belts as turbulence was expected. This came during a time when flight attendants were in the aisle with food and beverage carts.
Mason’s lawsuit claims that the coffee pot landed on her lap, causing “severe 1st and 2nd degree burns” on the genitals, thighs, and legs.
This is certainly not the first lawsuit of its kind; turbulence during flights will occur, and flight attendants cannot stop the results of this when food and beverages go flying during in-flight meal service. This February, a passenger on Korean Air flying from New York City to Seoul, South Korea, filed suit against a flight attendant for spilling “a cup of boiling hot coffee” onto her lap, causing “grievous personal injuries” to her groin.
In 2022, another Korean Air passenger filed a suit saying that a flight attendant spilled hot tea onto her lap. The passenger said the tea burned her legs, her things, and her genital area. The suit claimed the passenger may suffer permanent scarring and “cosmetic deformity.” In that case, the flight attendant put the cup of tea on the passenger’s tray table during the turbulence. In response to recent incidents, Korean Air has said that it will not serve instant noodles to passengers any longer because of an increase in turbulence incidents that is making the practice too dangerous.
It’s not just Korean Air, of course. A 2015 incident on a flight from London to Dublin on Ryan Air caused a 33-year-old man to suffer genital and groin burns when a flight attendant accidentally spilled hot tea onto his lap. The passenger, Ronald Furlong, settled the complaint out of court.
