A flight attendant has filed a $75 million lawsuit against Delta Air Lines, claiming the airline was negligent in connection with a February crash landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Flight Attendant Sues Delta And Endeavor After Toronto Crash Landing
The plaintiff, Vanessa Miles, argues that Delta and its regional subsidiary, Endeavor Air, recklessly assigned an inexperienced pilot to operate the flight. According to the complaint, the incident left her with lasting physical injuries as well as severe emotional trauma.
Miles was not the flight attendant who evacuated passengers from the Bombardier CRJ-900 aricraft in a viral video after the crash of DL4819 in Toronto (YYZ) on February 17, 2025. The CRJ-900 flipped over, shedding a wing, spilling jet fuel, and settling upside-down on the runway. All 80 aboard survived, though 21 were injured. Witnesses described passengers hanging “like bats” before evacuating into frigid temperatures. Indecision on the tarmac left evacuees waiting nearly an hour on the icy ground. The preliminary report from Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB) points to rapid descent amid wintry crosswinds (i.e. pilot error), with final findings expected in autumn 2026.
Rather, Miles was an off-duty Endeavor flight attendant onboard (she was repositioning for work). Her $75 million lawsuit, filed in federal court (Eastern District of Michigan), alleges gross negligence by Delta and Endeavor. Specifically, she asserts that the crew lacked proper training and were rushed into service, creating an unsafe environment.
Miles says she woke unconscious, soaked in jet fuel, suspended by her seatbelt. She fell head-first into the ceiling upon regaining consciousness and, unable to use slides that failed to deploy, dropped six to seven feet to the tarmac. She suffered traumatic brain injury, a fractured shoulder, back and knee injuries, and significant psychological trauma, including PTSD and depression.
Her lawsuit charges that Delta and Endeavor “cut corners on safety,” alleging inadequate training, subpar equipment maintenance, and poor emergency protocols. It’s the first lawsuit filed by crew among the nearly 20 lawsuits already filed by other passengers.
Delta and Endeavor have declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying only that they are cooperating fully with the TSB-led investigation.
You can read the lawsuit here.
CONCLUSION
A crew member has sued Delta Air Lines, alleging pilots were poorly trained and corners cut, leading to a needless crash that needlessly injured her and others. Her lawsuit stands out among almost two dozen others as being the first crew-initiated lawsuit from this incident.
Is this a reasonable lawsuit or an indefensible money grab?
> Read More on DL4819:
- “We Were Hanging Like Bats!” Video Captures Onboard Evacuation Of Crashed Delta Flight
- Delta Air Lines Offers $30,000 Compensation To Each Crash Victim With No Strings Attached
- Delta Air Lines Forced To Correct Misinformation About Pilots In Crash
- “I Was Drenched With Jet Fuel In A Burning Plane!” The Lawsuits Against Delta Air Lines Begin
Is this sanctioned by the union or just a rogue member?
If not, this is probably the only time the union should work with the airline not against it.
Why does this have to be union “sanctified”. Under the circumstances why can’t a person take legal action without union approval ?
Trust me, if I’m hanging upside down with jet fuel all over me, I’m not going to worry about getting “approval” or “sanctification” from the union.
She is correct , ( if her allegations are true that the airline is at fault ) .
( If her allegations are not true , then she is incorrect .)
If it was actually a sudden , unforeseeable weather-related event , then the airline may not be at fault .
[ By the way , if an organized crime ‘boss’ is convicted of a heinous act against a person , why do we never hear of the person filing a lawsuit against organized crime ? ]
I believe the pilot in question was female…just like the Blackhawk helicopter pilot in DC…
Which means…?
It means that “if the pilot was a female” ; then “the female was not a flight attendant” .
By the way , the Chinese character for “Good” , shows a boy and a girl .
That really answrs nothing.
First red flag: If she was actually a properly trained Endeavor flight attendant, she would know the CRJ does not have slides, so of course they wouldn’t deploy.
No aircraft ought to “slide” on it’s roof .
Money grab
To be clear $75 million is a money grab. Me, I’d let them bribe me with free F for life orcsome such reasonable thing.
Because $75 million will make everything better. What a C!
Hopefully she loses, no one ever hires her again and she is miserable for the rest of her life for being such a little b#tch.
Everything wrong with our legal system wrapped up in a ball by her.
Couldn’t agree more. Well said.
She can easily prove it’s not all about the money by pledging $74 million to a series of nominated charities in the event of a successful outcome for her,
Dismissed. This should be a personal injury case. Did she go to the ER ? What are her total medical bills ? How many surgeries ? PT ? Has she flown again since ? If they could prove that then there can be a few million dollar settlement if the injuries were severe . There was no death so that puts a ceiling on the settlement. I didn’t see anything about medical bills in the article attachment.