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Alaska Airlines passengers are suing Boeing in response to an incident last week on a domestic flight in which a door plug, a piece of fuselage at the rear of the plane, was thrown from the plane in mid-air.
The lawsuit includes seven plaintiffs and was filed in Washington Superior Court for King County, where part of the emergency occurred. The Jan. 5 incident occurred at an altitude of 16,000 feet as Flight 1282 took off from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California.
The plane made an emergency landing and returned to the airport from which it departed. It is the first lawsuit filed in response to the explosive incident.
Although it is not yet known what caused the explosion on the Boeing 737 Max 9, officials say the incident was due to a loss of pressure in the aircraft. A T-shirt, iPhones and other items were sucked out of the plane.
Several passengers were injured but were cleared medically after an examination by experts, Alaska Airlines said in a statement. The complaint alleges that passengers on board suffered bleeding ears, bruises and headaches.
One passenger said her ears exerted so much pressure that she thought her head was going to explode, the complaint says. Many oxygen masks also appeared to not work during the flight.
The lawsuit does not name a specific amount of money that is being sought.
There were around 171 people and six crew members on board the flight. Four of them were minors, three were lap children.
“The passengers were shocked, terrorized and confused, thrown into a waking nightmare, hoping that they would live long enough to walk the earth again,” court papers say.
Alaska Airlines offered its passengers $1,500 in compensation in addition to psychological resources and counseling. The airline was not named as a defendant.
In a written statement, Daniel Laurence, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs, said: “This nightmare has caused economic, physical and lasting emotional consequences that have understandably deeply affected our clients, and is another troubling black mark on the troubled aircraft the 737 Max series.” ”
The 737 Max 9 series has been at the center of recent tragedies. In October 2018, a faulty sensor on a Max 8 jet activated an anti-stall system, causing a plane to crash near Jakarta, Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.
In 2019, an Ethiopian Airlines Max 8 plane crashed, killing 157 people. During a town hall meeting this week, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said the company would “acknowledge our mistake” and operate with complete transparency.
After the incident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) decided to remove all Max 9 models from service. Both Alaska Airlines and United Airlines have reportedly found loose screws on their models since the decision.
On Thursday, the authority announced it would open an investigation into the incident. This is the second investigation launched against the company in response to the emergency. The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the company.
On Friday evening, the FAA announced it would ask Boeing to provide additional data before the planes could take to the skies again. It was originally expected that the aircraft would be cleared for inspection this week.
Hundreds of flights were canceled due to the flight ban.
“We are working to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” said FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker. “Our only concern is the safety of American travelers, and the Boeing 737-9 MAX will not return to the skies until we are fully satisfied that it is safe.”