A woman has filed a lawsuit against JetBlue Airways after suffering a broken ankle onboard a flight to the Bahamas.
The passenger, who filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court of the State of New York in July 2024, also claims that the crew on board the aircraft did not provide proper assistance at the time of the incident.
The injured woman is now seeking $170,000 in damages over the accident. The carrier is yet to respond to the lawsuit.
What happened during the incident?
The incident occurred on July 23, 2022, when plaintiffs Maria Mistretta and her husband were traveling from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to New York to Nassau, Bahamas (NAS) for a vacation. The flight was operated by an Airbus A320 aircraft.
At approximately 08:15 local time, the woman got up from her seat in the second row and stepped into the aisle where her foot became entangled in a low hanging seatbelt. This caused her to fall backwards and severely injure her foot, according to the lawsuit.
The woman’s husband, together with a nurse who was seated nearby, worked to free her foot and assisted her back to her chair. But when the woman asked flight crew for a first aid kit and ice, she was told that everything was packed up and inaccessible for the remainder of the flight, the court papers continued.
The flight crew also informed the injured woman and her husband that they would need to wait for all other passengers to deplane before they would be able to get off the aircraft. Once they were finally allowed to exit the aircraft, the only wheelchair available was broken.
After landing in the Bahamas, the couple claimed they then faced further challenges when JetBlue personnel recommended against calling for an ambulance to take the injured woman to the nearby hospital. Instead, they were advised to return home to New York for medical evaluation.
The couple booked a flight back to JFK but claimed JetBlue still did not provide any assistance, and they were forced to use the same broken wheelchair, the filing said.
Upon arrival back at JFK, the woman was immediately taken to a hospital, where doctors confirmed she had fractured her right ankle, had deep vein thrombosis in the right leg and an aggravation of a pre-existing back condition.