A group of passengers is threatening a lawsuit against Delta Air Lines after experiencing a bizarre flight to Ghana, with a law firm retained to send a formal complaint to governmental authorities in the USA and in Ghana.
Lawsuit Threatened In Formal Complaint Against Delta Air Lines Over Troubled Ghana Flight
I wrote about this flight from the context of a polyglot YouTuber who I found far too dramatic in claiming to have experienced horror and anxiety after the pilot announced a fuel problem 2.5 hours over the Atlantic Ocean. The Delta flight from New York (JFK) to Accra, Ghana (ACC), already severely delayed, returned to JFK.
The flight was originally scheduled to leave JFK on July 24, 2022 but one of the pilots did not show up and the flight was delayed until the following afternoon. Some passengers claim that Delta left people stranded without hotel and meal vouchers, which I find very hard to believe.
On July 25th, the flight was further delayed due to bad weather, but finally took off. Bu after 2.5 hours in the air, the flight turned around, with the pilot noting a fuel problem.
Back in New York, the flight was rescheduled to take off at 3:30pm on July 26th. Some passengers were re-accomodated on the regularly-scheduled DL156 flight to Accra leaving that evening. Business class passengers were given priority, but had to accept downgrades to go that night, as business class was sold out.
A demand letter from a law firm in Accra representing seven of the passengers makes additional allegations:
- American passport holders were treated better than Ghanian passport holders
- Refunds were only offered proactively to Americans who were downgraded from business class to economy class
- Passengers were lied to when Delta promised hotel accommodations and did not deliver
- Passengers suffered emotional distress over the failure of Delta to properly fuel its aircraft and that the use of older aircraft on the Ghana routes suggests discrimination
Hinting at a potential lawsuit, the letter warns:
The said conduct is irresponsible, unprofessional, unethical, negligent, and reckless hence must be investigated and sanctioned.
Without dismissing the letter in its entirety, I’ll note it is full of serious claims but light on any sort of “smoking gun” evidence to demonstrate ill-intent, malice, or even negligence on the part of Delta. There’s a lot of circumstantial evidence that can be explained in other ways than simply that Delta treats Ghanians poorly or acted recklessly in the context of this flight.
You can review the complaint here.
CONCLUSION
A formal complaint has been sent to U.S. and Ghanian aviation authorities about DL156, the troubled flight from JFK to ACC that suffered a fuel imbalance issue over the Atlantic after already facing an extended delay. While the allegations are troubling, I’m not seeing anything that definitively would make Delta legally liable.
(H/T: Sean M)
“Influencers” ?…more like instigators…
Given the absolute one-sidedness of every airlines’ contract of carriage, it would be hard to get a verdict of any sort of contract violation for any breach.
I find DL’s failure to operate a route between BOS and PNH with its newest A350-900s discriminatory and will be filing a lawsuit!
Speaking of lawsuits, can you tell us anything about the status of yours against AC?
Unfortunately, I’ve said all I can about that.
Well, onc big difference: it’s likely the folks who purchased the tickets from overseas have a different contract of carriage as required by their local government.
For a flight that is marketed and operated by Delta Airlines (or any U.S. based airline), especially a flight that originates or terminates in the United States, will have the same contract of carriage regardless of where it was purchased.
The passengers on this flight, and by virtue of the fact that both the U.S.A. and Ghana are signatories to the Montreal Convention, the passengers can sue under that convention rules and regulations.
Let me get this straight: Delta was almost 48 hours late in getting passengers to their intended destination and at least some of them were not provided hotel and meal assistance. Setting aside the other allegations (which attorney Matthew Klint has discounted) the airline’s performance was atrocious.
How can you even begin to “get it straight” when you haven’t heard Delta’s response?
Unfortunately, we’re overrun with “influencers” “bloggers” and “bloggers”
Complete waste of spaces….all of them: whilst it’s fine to hold and express personal opinions based on personal experience, far too many of these people are publishing material without checking and cross referencing the facts.
I feel sorry for the clueless numpties who hang on their every word
It is not surprising that Delta would likely end up accomodating more US passport holders than Ghanian passport holders, considering the airline is American-based and probably has more American FFs with status (priority rebooking) than Ghanian FFs. I’ve seen absurd numbers of medallions on many domestic and international flights. Recently going out as a Diamond, there were 20 people in front of me on the upgrade list.
So the 2nd Delta flight returning after 2+ hours in the air??? That is the bigger issue.
It is unfortunate that whether a refund is proactively offered in a downgrade can depend on FF status. The people least likely to know their rights (infrequent flyers) are left to figure out compensation on their own and the airlines hope many will fail to assert themselves.
That the person who complained in the media was taken care of further suggests bad faith on the part of Delta.
But unless we learn that the US passport holder was not an Delta elite I agree there isn’t discrimination
It’s a demand letter. Essentially it’s purpose is to create a record prior to litigation. These letters are intentionally heavy on allegations and short on details (as would an eventual compliant, the document that would launch a lawsuit). The plaintiffs would be relying on discovery to obtain the evidence needed to prove their case. But, to get to that, they have to survive Delta’s almost certain summary judgment motion, in which Delta will claim, even if all allegations are true (without admitting that they are), that plaintiffs have failed to state a case on which relief can be granted.
As I have stated in another post, the passengers on this flight, and by virtue of the fact that both the U.S.A. and Ghana are signatories to the Montreal Convention, the passengers can sue under that convention rules and regulations.
In this case, (excerpt from Wikipedia page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Convention (under Damages) “the Montreal Convention does not recognize compensation for psychiatric injury or damage unless linked to physical injury. Article 17 of the Convention refers to “bodily injury” in setting out the liability of the carrier for accidents. Purely psychiatric injury is not eligible for compensation which has been criticised by people injured in plane accidents, legal experts and their families.
So while they can get compensated for the cancellations and the delays but when it comes to emotional distress, these passengers have no claim for any compensation and as such they have no standing to sue Delta under those grounds.