A lawsuit claims Aer Lingus flight attendants dragged a woman from the lavatory and flung her back into her seat while her pants will still down after she could not wait any longer to use the lavatory prior to takeoff.
Mary Oshana, a passenger onboard an Aer Lingus A330 flight from Chicago to Dublin, claims that after a 30-minute ground delay, she could not wait any longer and made a beeline for the lavatory. The problem: the flight was about to takeoff.
Flight attendants rushed to the door and started to bang on it. Oshana told them she would be out in a minute. 20 seconds later they banged again, forced their way in, then dragged Oshana out. Her lawsuit claims her pants were still below her knees, exposing her buttocks and genitalia to those seated around her.
“Flight attendants broke through the lavatory door, grabbed the plaintiff under her arms, dragged her to her seat while her pants were below her knees, and threw her with great force into the arm rest and seat.”
Oshana also alleges her hip was injured in the incident and she was humiliated when other (male) passengers snickered and laughed at her as the situation unfolded and her private parts were visible.
“In the process of being thrown with great force into the arm rest and seat, the plaintiff, Mary Oshana, suffered pain and bruising in her hip, thighs and buttocks.”
The incident allegedly took place on April 26, 2018. The lawsuit comes now to avoid a two-year statute of limitations deadline. Oshana contends the crew “acted unreasonably, carelessly, and negligently.”
An Aer Lingus spokesperson told the Irish Independent, “We have no comment on this.”
A court date has been set for June.
CONCLUSION
I really want to read the response from Aer Lingus before opining on this. The dragging sounds excessive, though, especially if done with her pants down.
(H/T: View from the Wing)
“Broke through” the lavatory door is probably a dramatic embellishment. They can unlock the door from the outside any time they please. But it is up to a jury to decide if losing your take off slot is worth being rushed to your seat with your pants down…(if true)
That’s what breaking through means: opening an otherwise locked door. Breaking through ≠ tearing down the door.
There is no way this would not have emerged at the time on social media if it happened as described in the complaint
Yikes.
When I was a flight attendant the proper response to this situation would have been to phone the flight deck and tell them someone was in the lavatory. If the plane was actually beginning its take-off roll, it would have been safer to just leave the passenger in the lav.
I loved my 3o-year flying career, but the stories I read every single day make me so thankful I’m retired…
When you gotta go you gotta go but why didn’t she go before the flight. A 30 min delay isn’t that long unless you are chugging a ton of liquid while you wait.
If the allegations are true, then good for Aer Lingus, sounds like they did exactly what they should have. Entitled, spoiled morons think that rules are for others. No sympathy.
I have no comment on this.
I get it….. your post name tells me so. Shame on you.
tom, this DID emerge at the time, and I remember the story well. I especially remember the snitty “Why didn’t she just go before the flight?” comments from people with no clue about how rushed air travelers can be, like patrick. You can be sure she would have preferred to use a restroom in the airport rather than a lavatory on board, if she had time to do so, as any of us would. Rushing to the gate, whether from a backed-up security theatre line or from an incoming flight that pushed the envelope of the 30 minutes the airlines insist is a plenty long-enough layover for connections, might not have allowed her that luxury.
I’ve been in a similar situation before where I needed to use the bathroom during an extended taxi and delay at O’hare. I made my intentions known to the flight attendant in first before I proceeded. She phoned up to the cockpit and gave me the go-ahead before I ran up and got back to my seat before take off.
The fault is clearly on the FAs. This is disgusting behaviour. Banging on the door is fine but invading the toilet and dragging someone out is just wrong. The fault probably also lies with the crew who didn’t inform passengers along the lines of “We will start taxiing in 5 minutes, please be prepared to take your seats then”. Hope Aer Lingus has to pay this lady $50,000 which would be the appropriate amount. Anything more would just be crazy.
Violent, obnoxious, piece of garbage flight attendants, are no different than violent cops, who beat the c— out of passengers, whom they drag off flights.
Wasn’t there and no one of us can comment objectively. I had flight cancelled because of missed slot for this exact same situation… guess what? 99% of the passengers & company would have loved to have us dragged her butt out of lavatory and save other 300+ travel plans. We all know how travelling is stressful and painful somtimes… suck it up! The least you can do is respect rules & regulations and unless you have a precondition known by your crew onboard… i’m sorry to say but she’s a grown up adult who can control her physical needs. I hope people will one day understand that they’re not travelling by themselves and consider other people by doing the bare minimum : respect rules in place (we don’t ask for understanding it… even crew disagree with certain rules… but guess what? That’s not our job nor the place to vent about it), and think about others (if she would have been in the lavatory for takeoff, maybe she would have been hurt and willing to go out on an unstable phase of flight injuring fellow passengers… or worst: emergency/rejected takeoff, endangering crew safety to get her out…).