A passenger on an October United Airlines flight that had to make an emergency landing is suing the airline because, he claims, the company “fabricated” the real reason for the incident.
In a lawsuit obtained by PEOPLE, Theodore Liaw writes that “United’s negligence nearly resulted in the loss of all life aboard United Airlines Flight 931 on October 27, 2018, and … United has blatantly lied to its customers to cover up that negligence.”
The suit outlines how the aircraft, en route from Chicago to London, had been several hours into its trans-Atlantic flight when the plane “suddenly [plunged] and begin a terrifyingly rapid descent” from its cruising altitude of 40,000 feet. The drop only ended, he says, when the plane successfully landed at a rural airport in Goose Bay, Canada. The passengers then had to wait in their seats for eight hours for another plane, the lawsuit states.
Liaw, who claims to have spoken to the pilots after the landing, then alleges that the cause of the landing was a shattered cockpit window — photographs of which he included in the filing. It is unclear if he took or obtained the photos.
During the 8-hour wait for rescue, Liaw says he “wandered up to the cockpit to express his appreciation” to the pilots, who then “freely discussed” what had happened.
“The pilots grimly mentioned that everyone came close to dying many times over – from the pilots being sucked out of the window, to the fact that had the plane been further out on its journey, the pilots would have had no choice but to risk an almost certainly fatal water landing in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean,” the suit states.
Liaw then says that he asked if something had struck the window and the pilots “chuckled in response” before telling him “there’s nothing alive at 40,000 feet” and stating the cause was “likely” human mechanical error.
United responded to the lawsuit, telling PEOPLE in a statement: “At United, safety is our top priority and we diverted the aircraft due to a cracked windshield and the aircraft landed safely. We are continuing to investigate this matter but there are a number of claims in this lawsuit that are untrue. Due to the pending litigation, we’re unable to comment further.”
The pilots allegedly went on to detail what may have happened, saying, a United mechanic had “over-torqued the bolts of the cockpit window.”
The lawsuit details that the external two layers of the windshield glass were “completely compromised,” affecting the internal air pressure, while the internal third layer only stayed intact because the “co-pilot quickly pushed his weight against [it] … which may have prevented the entire window from breaking during the descent.”
The documents continue: “Had that last layer disappeared, both pilots would have likely been sucked out of the plane and Flight 931’s passengers would have been doomed.” It also purports that if the glass had started to give in when the plane was over the Atlantic, it would’ve had to land on the ocean.
The pilots allegedly told Liaw that had that been the case, “everyone on board would have either died from the impact or would have quickly frozen to death in the cold ocean.”
Liaw contacted United several times after the incident and was told by one agent that “her notes showed that a bird hit the windshield” of Flight 931, a statement he calls “an outright lie” because “no birds live or fly at that altitude.”
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The filing claims each passenger was offered a $500 voucher as an apology for the incident, which Liaw says caused him “bodily injury and severe emotional distress. He is asking for “fair compensation from United from his close brush with death due to United’s negligence,” which he says amounts to $75,000.
WHY IT RATES: Travel agents and advisor with clients who fly with United Airlines should be showcasing the carrier’s improved app.—Donald Wood, Breaking News Senior Writer.
United Airlines is introducing a reimagined mobile app to customers around the world. Already the top downloaded airline app for Apple and Android phones, the refreshed app now features a more dynamic experience that updates customers at each step of their travel journey, making it the perfect travel companion.
The app includes features customers know and love from the previous version, while adding enhancements that make managing travel easier from booking to landing.
“Every day we are using technology to improve our customers’ experience and making more information available to our customers at the swipe of a finger,” said Linda Jojo, executive vice president of technology and chief digital officer at United Airlines. “With this updated app, we set out to bring improvements that are meaningful to all our customers, whether they travel every week or only once a year.”
Customers’ favorite features, such as bag tracking, will continue to be available in the updated app, and new highlights include:
—A navigation bar that gives customers quick access to some of the most popular tools such as flight status, and some new handy features like My Trips.
—A My Trips tab in the navigation bar that allows customers to easily access information about their upcoming trip and stores boarding passes when customers are checked in for their flights.
—An inbox that stores important push notifications United sends customers about their flight, such as if a flight status changes, gate changes and alerts about when boarding for a flight has begun.
—Dynamic boarding times will be updated throughout the app in the event that departure times change to give customers the latest information even when they are not at the gate. This builds on the airline’s recent addition of boarding notifications, which were added when United rolled out its Better Boarding process.
One of the biggest updates to the app comes during the travel period, when the home screen updates to give customers the most helpful information for each step of their travel journey. The home screen will begin to update starting 48 hours before a flight, and will continue updating throughout various phases all the way through arrival at the final destination with the most useful information. For instance, customers connecting will find a screen that allows them to easily access airport maps so they can easily navigate to the next gate. Bringing the most useful information to the forefront will make the entire journey less stressful and more intuitive.
The app also includes an updated design with more engaging content. When a customer does not have an upcoming trip, the app will open to a beautiful destination image to provide travel inspiration. Content on the home screen is also more personalized to each user; for example, customers who recently passed loyalty milestones will be recognized on the home screen, and the app will also celebrate customers on their birthday.
United’s in-house digital team spent over a year designing and creating this updated app, including eight months during which customers and more than 18,000 employees provided feedback to create the final version that rolls out worldwide today. United issued seven releases during the beta test, making numerous changes based on user feedback. There were more than 13,000 check-ins during the beta test period. The airline will continue soliciting feedback on the app and expects to roll out additional features later this year to further improve and ease travel for our customers.
As a technology leader, United was the first carrier to offer mobile boarding passes and became the first to introduce boarding passes and flight information in its app for partner airlines. Customers can access boarding passes and flight information for flights on United’s Star Alliance partner airlines when flights are booked with connecting travel on United on the same itinerary. The airline also made it easier for customers to search for fare classes available in the app with Expert Mode, a popular feature from united.com.
For more information, reach out to your local travel agent.
CHICAGO — Union leaders said the air safety environment is deteriorating by the day due to the government shutdown.
A warning was issued Wednesday from the unions representing air traffic controllers, pilots and flight attendants nationwide. The joint statement said:
“In our risk averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break. It is unprecedented.”
“If this continues, we’re going to see a catastrophic failure in the system,” Dan Carrico, president of NATCA at O’Hare International Airport, said. “I can’t tell you when, or how, but I can tell you that the stress and the fatigue that my air controllers at O’Hare are experiencing, and throughout the country, it’s going to lead to us to miss something.”
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin met with air traffic controllers in Aurora and said working without pay is not only unfair but also dangerous.
“The stress this is putting on these men and women is unacceptable. We want to make sure that they can focus on their jobs. Instead of focusing on whose going to pay for the medical bills for for their children,” he said.
The shutdown has dragged on for more than a month, raising serious concerns about staffing levels.
At O’Hare and Midway International Airport, TSA agents received some help from the Salvation Army.
They served warm meals for those bearing the financial pain of the dysfunction in Washington.
“Typically when we respond to a disaster it’s usually a flood, or a home thats been destroyed, or flood, or tornado or a hurricane. What’s been taken away is their income,” Major David Dalberg, Salvation Army, said.
The union has repeated the call for Congress and the White House to take the necessary steps to end the shutdown immediately.
Traveling to locations where road signs are posted in foreign languages is something we like to do. These trips are usually accomplished by flying through the clouds in big airplanes.
I don’t much enjoy flying in little planes, though. I’d almost rather stay on the ground than glide through the skies in one of those. I’m still haunted by an unpleasant experience on a small plane from about 50 years ago.
There were just a couple of us and the pilot on board for that trip. It was a safe journey, even though my view through the side window seemed somewhat tilted from time to time. We were headed to a venue where the President would speak, and I was anxious to get there. As the plane carefully descended, my ears sensed a problem even before I became dizzy and broke out in a cold sweat. I reached for an air sickness bag, and quickly used it. By the time we were stepping out of the plane, I felt refreshed and was holding a neatly closed bag. A Congressman greeted me with a handshake. I extended my right hand to him, keeping my left hand behind my back where I held the bag.
Motion sickness is something that’s not bothered me on commercial passenger planes. Big planes don’t usually cause me any worry.
Years ago, though, there was a bit of concern before takeoff. I was on a plane in Connecticut, ready to return home. The plane was a large one and it was full. Just before we were about to begin our flight, an announcement was made. It seemed the plane was 400 pounds over a weight limit. Vouchers for a later flight, along with an extra refund, were offered to volunteers who would get off the plane. I studied those who left, to be assured their combined weight was well over 400 pounds.
These days it seems planes are rarely overbooked or rarely need volunteer bumps. There have been times, though, when my wife and I have given up our seats and earned complimentary flights.
Then there was that unusual incident on a flight back to the States from Amsterdam. A steward came down the aisle, carrying a drink order. He accidentally spilled some from the cup onto a fellow’s pants. The steward apologized. The man assured him it was no problem. That seemed to be the end of that, but after a while, the steward returned with a voucher. He handed it to my fellow passenger and told him the airline would like to give him a free roundtrip. For the remainder of the flight, I was hoping the steward would return with another drink and spill some on me. He was more careful and I didn’t dare try to trip him, so I didn’t score such a freebie.
Still, we always enter contests and promotions for free travel. I’ve only won a set of luggage. My wife has been luckier. She’s won a trip to Rome and a couple of airline tickets to California. Neither of us have won anything recently. We’re slipping.
So these days we accumulate points toward hotel stays and miles toward airline flights through various purchase methods. Then, often through tedious research on the internet, we sometimes locate complimentary or discounted travel opportunities.
The ordeal is not complete simply after finding the special deals. Skillfully using the accumulated points and miles and discounts becomes another challenge.
After having our first few excursions booked by a travel agent, my wife concluded, “I can do that.” So these days, she searches our options. She considers everything from available seats (Can we find seats next to the wing?) to the time needed to switch planes (Can we fly from Copenhagen to London and then with only an hour and a half, board the plane to fly home?), and studies other seemingly mundane, yet important, aspects of traveling.
I appreciate my favorite traveling companion’s knack for solving such puzzles. Her efforts have contributed toward our enjoyment of several travel experiences.
The strain of a 34-day partial government shutdown is weighing on the nation’s air-travel system, both the federal workers who make it go and the airlines that depend on them.
Air traffic controllers and airport security agents continue to work without pay — they will miss a second biweekly paycheck on Friday — but high absentee rates raise the threat of long airport lines, or worse.
Unions that represent air traffic controllers, flight attendants and pilots are growing concerned about safety with the shutdown well into its fifth week. Airline executives say they are worried that long airport lines could scare off passengers. The economic damage, while small, is starting to show up in their financial reports.
Federal workers say going without pay is grinding them down, and they’re not sure how much longer they can take it.
“The stress is getting to everyone,” said Al Zamborsky, a radar specialist at Reagan National Airport outside Washington.
Zamborsky said co-workers are preoccupied with the shutdown and their personal finances. Safety isn’t compromised, he said, but efficiency has suffered.
The presidents of unions representing air traffic controllers, pilots and flight attendants outlined their security concerns in a prepared statement.
“We have a growing concern for the safety and security of our members, our airlines, and the traveling public due to the government shutdown,” they said. “In our risk-averse industry, we cannot even calculate the level of risk currently at play, nor predict the point at which the entire system will break.”
The Transportation Safety Administration said 7.5 percent of its airport security officers scheduled to work on Wednesday did not show up. That is down from Sunday’s 10 percent absent rate but more than double the 3 percent rate of the comparable Wednesday in 2018.
TSA has resorted to sending backup officers to beef up staffing at some airports and at times closing a couple of checkpoints at major airports. TSA said that only 3.7 percent of travelers screened Wednesday — or about 65,000 people — waited 15 minutes or longer.
Air traffic controllers are hired by the Federal Aviation Administration.
“We have seen no unusual increased absenteeism and there are no operational disruptions due to staffing,” said FAA spokesman Greg Martin said. He declined to provide figures.
The impact to airlines’ business has been small so far. Southwest Airlines said Thursday that the shutdown has cost it $10 million to $15 million in lost revenue. The airline had $5.7 billion revenue in the fourth quarter. Delta Air Lines, which had $10.7 billion in fourth-quarter revenue, expects to lose $25 million in sales this month.
However, there are other effects. The shutdown is holding up Southwest’s plans to begin flights from California to Hawaii — the FAA regulators who must approve the long, over-water flights are not working during the shutdown. Delta’s service using new planes is also likely to be pushed back because FAA officials are off the job.
Airlines are walking a fine line: They fear more financial harm if the shutdown continues, but they do not want to alarm passengers.
Southwest CEO Gary Kelly called the shutdown “maddening.”
“This shutdown could harm the economy and it could harm air travel,” Kelly said. “This is crazy, it just absolutely needs to end.” He said the airline would do its best “to work through this slop and contain the damage.”
Kelly and Doug Parker, the CEO of American Airlines, said the shutdown has not affected safety. However, if the shutdown leads to fewer TSA agents or air traffic controllers on the job, Parker said, “you get long lines at TSA but still the same level of screening, you get larger separation (in the air) of aircraft, so you have delayed airspace — things that are really concerning to us. That is what we fear may happen.”
Parker urged government officials to resolve the shutdown so that customers don’t have to fear “delays at the airport because air traffic controllers that can’t afford to show up to work.”
The toll is greatest, of course, on the federal workers who are going without paychecks.
“I have an 8-year-old son who asked me, ‘Hey Dad, what are we going to do to pay our mortgage? Are we going to lose our house?’” said Mike Christine, an air traffic controller in Leesburg, Virginia. “That is not something an 8-year-old should be saying.”
Christine’s wife is a federal worker who is also about to miss her second paycheck.
Here are the companies the Yahoo Finance team is watching for you today.
Tilray is buying Canadian medical cannabis producer “Natura Naturals” for about $26 million in cash and stock. The deal is contingent on production milestones and includes a huge greenhouse for growing legal marijuana.
A departure from the C-suite at Express. The CEO, David Kornberg, is out as of today, though he’ll officially stay on the books into February. It’s not clear what led to his exit. Kornberg’s been in the top job at Express for the last 4 years. The COO is taking over, on an interim basis.
Tesla is denying reports it’s struck a deal over batteries in China. Tesla tells Bloomberg the reports are “completely false.” Reuters had said the electric car maker had reached a preliminary deal to buy batteries from a Chinese supplier, for its Shanghai factory. Tesla currently gets some of its batteries from Panasonic.
Panasonic is teaming up with Toyota to produce electric car batteries. The two companies announced today that the joint venture will launch by 2020. This comes as ecological vehicles become a more profitable sector amid concerns about global warming. Toyota will take a 51% stake in the partnership, Panasonic will own the rest.
United Airlines is reviewing an incident that left 250 passengers stuck on a plane for about 15 hours. The flight out of New Jersey was heading to Hong Kong last weekend when it was diverted to Newfoundland, Canada, after a medical emergency. A mix of factors, some of which included mechanical problems, led to the passengers being stuck on the frigid Canadian airfield.
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Travel News | eTurboNews
United Airlines is speechless. The Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, also known as the Montreal Convention may cost United Airlines more than a million Dollars. Airline officials had no comments after 250 United Airlines passengers traveling on a flight from Newark to HongKong were taken hostage by Canadian Authorities. This was reported by eTurboNewson Sunday.
According to Paul Hudson the responsibility may actually be at the airline. Hudson is president of Flyersright.org the 17-hour tarmac stranding on United Airlines Flight 179 in Newfoundland due to mechanical problems should be a textbook case for delay compensation under the 1999 Montreal Convention, which governs international trips, President of FlyersRights.org.
The Montreal Convention 1999 (MC99) establishes airline liability in the case of death or injury to passengers, as well as in cases of delay, damage or loss of baggage and cargo. It unifies all of the different international treaty regimes covering airline liability that had developed haphazardly since 1929. MC99 is designed to be a single, universal treaty to govern airline liability around the world. Read the full MC99 text (pdf)
Under Article 19 of this little known treaty that airlines and many governments do not want the flying public to be aware of, airlines are responsible for damages suffered by passengers on a near strict liability basis of up to about $5,700. To avoid liability, the airline must prove that it took all reasonable steps to avoid or mitigate the delay. Having airworthy aircraft is the airline’s responsibility.
According to Mr. Hudson, the captain could have declared an emergency and this would have allowed passengers to deplane regardless of Canadian immigration rules.
United Airlines did not respond to eTurboNews, but according to a statement to the Wall Street Journal a United spokesperson said that the company is planning to “look at every aspect of this diversion to understand what we could do better.”
Information on fliyersright is available at 1-877-FLYERS-6 or by email to [email protected] or [email protected] at no charge.
The flight from Newark to Hong Kong was first diverted for a medical emergency, but once on the ground in Canada, a door froze, leaving passengers stuck on board for more than 12 hours.
Business and community leaders met in Wichita Wednesday morning to kick off a new campaign to encourage more travelers to use Eisenhower National Airport.
The Fly Wichita economic development initiative is aimed at building on the success the airport has had in recent years. The airport announced Tuesday that it had a record number of passengers in 2018. There were 1,665,116 passengers who flew in and out of the airport, which was an increase of 2.77 percent over the record year in 2017. For the month of December, there were 140,304 passengers. That was an increase of 6.08 percent from a year ago, and it set a new December record.
Valerie Wise, the airport’s air service and business development manager, said a goal of the campaign is to keep airfares affordable and to increase the number of non-stop destinations for Wichita travelers. Wise said other airports also reported record traffic last year, and with increased demand, airports are looking to enhance service. She said the campaign will focus on getting Wichita business and leisure travelers to use Eisenhower National Airport as much as possible.
Evan Rosell, vice president of projects with the Greater Wichita Partnership, said Wichita travelers want cheaper flights and more connections. He said if the community responds and continues the trend of increased ridership, flights will be more affordable with more destinations.
Gary Plummer, president and CEO of the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce, said it’s time to build momentum and increase ridership even more at the airport, to try to hit the 2 million passenger mark.
The pilot on the United Airlines flight nearing Newark Liberty International Airport was given plenty of warning by air-traffic control that a drone was in his vicinity. Still, he sounded stunned at what he saw.
“We missed the drone by about 30 feet off our right wing,” the pilot radioed, stifling an incredulous chortle.
The United crew’s report was the second sighting within minutes and that was all it took for controllers to halt arrivals at one of the New York area’s busy airports, triggering hours of delays. More than 40 flights headed to Newark were disrupted as the airport temporarily shut down arrivals Tuesday after the report from the United pilot.
“OK, and looks like about the same altitude?” the air-traffic controller replied, according to a recording of Tuesday afternoon’s incident made available by the website LiveATC.net.
“Exact same altitude,” the pilot of United Flight 2335 said. “It was our exact same altitude, probably 20 feet, 30 feet off our right.”
A pilot on Southwest Airlines Co. Flight 476 first reported the device at 4:44 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration and the flight-tracking website FlightAware. The temporary halt to arrivals forced 43 flights to hold, nine of which had to divert to other airports, FAA said.
“We’re not going to run anybody else through there right now,” the controller told a Delta Air Lines flight that was behind the United jet.
The FAA resumed arrivals within an hour, but had to delay dozens of other flights through the evening in an attempt to ease congestion from the initial event.
The disruption at Newark, a major hub in the New York metropolitan area, stoked fears of drone disruptions as U.S. regulators seek to expand civilian uses of the robotic aircraft while tightening security. It also recalled incidents at London’s Gatwick Airport, which was disrupted over three successive days last month after drone sightings, and Heathrow Airport, which was briefly shut down earlier this month when drone were sighted near its runways.
Tuesday’s device was spotted about nine miles north of Newark, over nearby Teterboro Airport. The FAA reported the device was at an altitude of 3,500 feet. The pilots on the Southwest jet said in a radio call it was at 3,600 feet.
“Be advised, there’s something on final here,” the Southwest pilot said in the first indication of a problem, according to the LifeATC.net recording, referring to the route planes take on their final approach to landing. “We thought maybe it was a drone. But there’s definitely something on final here.”
“You say something on final?” the controller said. “I’m not sure what you mean. Are you saying like an object or something?”
“Yes sir, an object. And it definitely looks like a drone,” the pilot said.
The Southwest pilot said the object was “pretty close,” though he estimated it was about a quarter of a mile away to their right. The controller then began warning other flights to be on alert for the object.
At one of the nation’s most congested and delay-prone airports, even a brief halt to landings can ripple though the day and cause disruptions for hours. The airport has also been plagued by delays in passenger security screening blamed on the partial government shutdown that began Dec. 22. On Monday, travelers waited as long as 40 minutes, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
The shutdown has also meant that FAA’s controllers are working without pay and some support workers — including some who would help investigate incidents like the one at Newark — are furloughed. Notification that air-traffic workers will miss their second paycheck begins today.
The incidents in London and Newark highlight a growing problem with drones: the potential for massive disruptions of commercial air travel by their mere presence. The U.S. government is drafting proposals that would track drones and identify their users in real time, but the rules are years away from becoming final.
The world’s largest civilian drone maker, China-based SZ DJI Technology Co. Ltd., issued a statement saying it would assist in any investigation, but raising doubts that a pilot could see such a small craft at that altitude. “Spotting one from a plane flying at more than 100 mph strains the limits of physical possibility,” said company spokesman Adam Lisberg.
The FAA has recorded hundreds of sightings of drones by pilots, including at Newark and other major commercial airports. There has been one confirmed collision in the U.S. between a drone and a traditional aircraft, an Army helicopter, which had minor damage, in 2017.
