A woman has filed a lawsuit against JetBlue Airways after breaking her ankle on a flight to the Bahamas.
The passenger, who filed suit in New York State Supreme Court in July 2024, also alleges that the crew on board the aircraft failed to provide adequate assistance at the time of the incident.
The injured woman is now demanding $170,000 in damages for the accident. The airline has not yet responded 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 and Nassau, Bahamas (NAS) for vacation. The flight was operated on a Boeing 737.
At around 8:15 a.m. local time, the woman got up from her second-row seat and walked into the aisle, where her foot got caught in a low-hanging seatbelt, causing her to fall backward and seriously injure her foot, the lawsuit says.
The woman’s husband, along with a nurse sitting nearby, tried to free her foot and helped her back into her chair. But when the woman asked flight crew for a first aid kit and ice, she was told everything was packed up and would not be accessible for the rest of the flight, court documents said.
The flight crew also told the injured woman and her husband that they would have to wait until all other passengers had disembarked before they could leave the plane. When they were finally allowed to leave the plane, the only wheelchair available was broken.
After landing in the Bahamas, the couple faced further challenges when JetBlue staff advised against calling an ambulance to take the injured woman to the nearby hospital and instead advised them to return to New York for a medical evaluation.
The couple booked a return flight to JFK, but claimed JetBlue still failed to provide them with assistance and they were forced to use the same broken wheelchair, the filing said.
After returning to JFK Airport, the woman was immediately taken to a hospital, where doctors diagnosed a fracture of her right ankle, deep vein thrombosis in her right leg, and worsening of an existing back problem.
