An American woman is suing British Airways in the High Court for more than £50,000 after breaking her leg in a fall while exiting a plane at London's Heathrow Airport. Melissa Phillips, 49, suffered spiral fractures to her left fibula and tibia as she descended a set of stairs in March 2023.
Ms Phillips, who lives in Maryland, was travelling back to the US from Israel with BA, using a connection via Heathrow in west London. Her legal team claims, according to court documents filed at the civil court, that the tumble was because of the airline's "negligence".
Claims of Chaotic Disembarkation
Her barrister said in court documents that there was "minimal crowd control or direction" from cabin crew as passengers ventured down "damp" steps to leave the aircraft. They claim it was these conditions which led to Ms Phillips being "jostled and knocked" before then falling.
Katherine Deal KC, for Ms Phillips, said in court documents that disembarking passengers from the flight from Israel to Heathrow was "chaotic". She said: "Had the steps not been full of jostling passengers, the claimant would not have been knocked off balance."
Ms Deal also said that 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".
Injury and Ongoing Impact
The barrister said that Ms Phillips underwent surgery after being taken to hospital, before being 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."
BA's Defence
BA is defending the claim, with its barrister stating that 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". The airline denies liability for the incident, but has offered to pay Ms Phillips £6,987 for her medical expenses.
Christopher Loxton, representing BA's defence to the claim, said 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.
Staff did not see "any disorderly or unusual passenger disembarkation", Mr Loxton added. 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."
Mr Loxton said BA claimed that Ms Phillips "caused herself to come into contact" with other passengers or their luggage, and failed to hold on to the handrails, meaning she "failed, in all the circumstances, to exercise reasonable skill and care". A hearing in the claim is yet to take place.
