American woman sues British Airways for more than £50,000 after fall at Heathrow

Melissa Phillips, a 49-year-old American traveller from Maryland, is suing British Airways for more than £50,000 after a fall at Heathrow Airport in March 2023, according to High Court documents.

Ms Phillips suffered spiral fractures in her left fibula and tibia while disembarking a British Airways flight from Israel to Heathrow. She was taken to hospital, underwent surgery, and was flown back to the US days later.

The passenger's claim

Her barrister, Katherine Deal KC, said in court documents that there was “minimal crowd control or direction” from cabin crew as passengers went down “damp” steps to leave the aircraft, leading to Ms Phillips being “jostled and knocked” and then falling.

Ms Deal described the disembarkation as “chaotic” and said: “Had the steps not been full of jostling passengers, the claimant would not have been knocked off balance.”

The legal team said 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”.

Ms Deal said Ms Phillips continues to experience pain, some limitation of movement and loss of amenity affecting aspects of her daily life, and that her symptoms are expected to be permanent.

British Airways' defence

British Airways denies liability for the incident but has offered to pay Ms Phillips £6,987 for her medical expenses.

Christopher Loxton, representing BA, said in its defence 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”.

Mr Loxton 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, adding that staff did not see “any disorderly or unusual passenger disembarkation”.

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”.

Why it matters

A hearing in the claim is yet to take place. The case centres on whether British Airways or the passenger was responsible for the fall on the aircraft steps at Heathrow.

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Sources

• independent.co.uk: American traveller sues British Airways for £50k after falling down plane steps | The Independent
• standard.co.uk: American woman suing British Airways for more than £50,000 after fall at Heathrow | The Standard
• uk.news.yahoo.com: Woman sues British Airways for over £50k after breaking two bones getting off plane - Yahoo News UK

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.