A US jury has ruled that American Airlines failed to follow its own safety rules when a passenger suffered two strokes on board a transatlantic flight, leaving him severely disabled.
The case involved California chef Jesus Plasencia , 67, who was flying with his wife, Ana Maria Marcela Tavantzis, from Miami to Madrid in November 2021. According to their lawsuit, Plasencia had a “mini stroke” before boarding. He briefly lost his ability to speak and struggled to hold basic items such as his phone.
His wife immediately raised the alarm with crew and the pilot, but the pilot brushed aside her concerns and even “joked with Plasencia” before “[clearing] him for take-off,” the complaint said, as quoted by the New York Post.
American Airlines’ own rules require medical staff to be alerted in such cases, but no call was made, the suit argued.
Once in the air, Plasencia suffered a second, far more serious stroke. Crew members asked other passengers to keep an eye on him, but did not inform the pilot, who had the authority to divert the flight.
On arrival in Spain, Plasencia was taken straight to hospital and spent three weeks there before returning to the United States. He has since lost the ability to speak or write and now relies on “around-the-clock, in-home care and intensive rehabilitation,” court papers state.
The couple argued that his condition could have been less severe if protocols had been followed. After nearly four years of proceedings, a federal jury in San Jose ordered American Airlines to pay them $9.6 million in damages.
The ruling came under the Montreal Convention, which sets out international airline liability rules, the New York Post reported.
American Airlines said it would challenge the decision. “The safety and well-being of our passengers is our highest priority. While we respect the jury’s decision, we disagree with the verdict and are currently evaluating next steps,” the company said in a statement.
It is not the first time the airline has faced such claims. In 2017, a 67-year-old stroke victim became “agitated” and “distressed” at New York’s JFK Airport before boarding a flight. The airline called her son to collect her but allegedly failed to monitor her.
She left the gate area, wandered out of the terminal and into oncoming traffic. Though she was not injured, she was later found “shivering, confused and in obvious distress” on the kerb, flanked by police, according to that lawsuit.
The case involved California chef Jesus Plasencia , 67, who was flying with his wife, Ana Maria Marcela Tavantzis, from Miami to Madrid in November 2021. According to their lawsuit, Plasencia had a “mini stroke” before boarding. He briefly lost his ability to speak and struggled to hold basic items such as his phone.
His wife immediately raised the alarm with crew and the pilot, but the pilot brushed aside her concerns and even “joked with Plasencia” before “[clearing] him for take-off,” the complaint said, as quoted by the New York Post.
American Airlines’ own rules require medical staff to be alerted in such cases, but no call was made, the suit argued.
Once in the air, Plasencia suffered a second, far more serious stroke. Crew members asked other passengers to keep an eye on him, but did not inform the pilot, who had the authority to divert the flight.
On arrival in Spain, Plasencia was taken straight to hospital and spent three weeks there before returning to the United States. He has since lost the ability to speak or write and now relies on “around-the-clock, in-home care and intensive rehabilitation,” court papers state.
The couple argued that his condition could have been less severe if protocols had been followed. After nearly four years of proceedings, a federal jury in San Jose ordered American Airlines to pay them $9.6 million in damages.
The ruling came under the Montreal Convention, which sets out international airline liability rules, the New York Post reported.
American Airlines said it would challenge the decision. “The safety and well-being of our passengers is our highest priority. While we respect the jury’s decision, we disagree with the verdict and are currently evaluating next steps,” the company said in a statement.
It is not the first time the airline has faced such claims. In 2017, a 67-year-old stroke victim became “agitated” and “distressed” at New York’s JFK Airport before boarding a flight. The airline called her son to collect her but allegedly failed to monitor her.
She left the gate area, wandered out of the terminal and into oncoming traffic. Though she was not injured, she was later found “shivering, confused and in obvious distress” on the kerb, flanked by police, according to that lawsuit.
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