A passenger is suing British Airways for more than £50,000 in damages after breaking her leg while getting off a plane at Heathrow Airport, according to High Court documents.
Melissa Phillips, 49, from Maryland, suffered spiral fractures in her left leg after a fall in March 2023. She was travelling back to the US from Israel via Heathrow when the incident occurred.
Allegations of Negligence
In court documents, her barrister claimed there was "minimal crowd control or direction" from cabin crew as passengers made their way down "damp" steps to leave the plane. Her legal team says this led to Ms Phillips being "jostled and knocked" and then falling.
Her lawyer, Katherine Deal KC, said in court documents it was "chaotic" as passengers left the aircraft. "Had the steps not been full of jostling passengers, the claimant would not have been knocked off balance," she said.
BA's Defence
British Airways is fighting the claim. The airline's lawyer, Christopher Loxton, said Ms Phillips was negligent as she "descended the steps without looking, or adequately looking", and that the most likely cause of the fall was Ms Phillips "simply losing her footing".
Mr Loxton said in the company's defence that passengers were not going down the steps in an "unusual or unexpected manner" and denied that the steps were damp. He said it was "not normal operating procedure" for crowd-control measures to be in place or for cabin crew to give directions, adding that staff did not see "any disorderly or unusual passenger disembarkation".
He said: "It is the defendant's case that the likely cause of the claimant's fall was simply paying insufficient attention to the way in which she was descending the steps and that she lost her footing and fell down the same steps."
Medical Impact
Ms Deal also claimed the airline failed to "avoid or materially reduce the risk of passengers jostling each other on overcrowded steps", and "otherwise failed in all the circumstances to provide reasonably safe air transport services."
The barrister said Ms Phillips underwent surgery after being taken to hospital before she was flown back to the US days later. She said: "The claimant underwent therapy and treatment but continues to experience pain, some limitation of movement and loss of amenity affecting aspects of her daily life over and above her pre-accident symptoms."
"Her ability to run her home was impaired. The claimant has some psychological distress as a result of her ongoing pain and immobility. Her symptoms are expected to be permanent."
British Airways denies liability for the fall but has offered to pay Ms Phillips £6,987 for her medical expenses.
