After the passengers, now four flight attendants from Alaska Airlines are suing Boeing for the mid-air emergency last year, in which a cabin panel of a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane blew out, causing injuries.
The flight attendants are suing Boeing for physical and psychological harm caused by the incident. They are also seeking compensation for past and future financial loss that they may have to incur due to the incident.
In separate lawsuits against Boeing, the flight attendants have stated that they acted to the best of their abilities, utilising their training and put the lives of passengers ahead of their own.
In their lawsuit, the flight attendants accused Boeing of negligence in the production process and were deemed to have delivered the aircraft in an unsafe condition for operation.
They also cited manufacturing negligence that led to the explosion of cabin panels while the plane was in the air.
Lawyer Tracy Brammeier stated to the Seattle Times that the flight attendants should be wholly compensated for the life-altering traumatic experience.
On January, 5, 2024, a Boeing 737-9 aircraft, operated by Alaska Airlines, took off from Portland International Airport with 174 passengers and six crew members on board on its way to Ontario, California when it had to make an emergency landing back in Portland after a door plug blowout when the flight reached an altitude of 16,000 feet. The incident occurred on flight 1282 between Portland and Ontario (in California).
“The pilots had no idea what was happening in the cabin and the flight attendants had no idea what was happening in the flight deck,” NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said.
Crew members struggled to open and untangle their own oxygen masks, and two flight attendants reported lightheadedness due to a lack of oxygen. The NTSB said FAA-guided training lacks the reality of depressurization.
“This accident never should’ve happened,” Homendy said. “Since this occurred there’s been a lot of focus on human error – on the actions of one or two Boeing employees," as per Homendy.
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes for immediate inspections. Alaska Airlines then took more than 60 Max 9's out of service for safety inspections.
In a recent development, three passengers who sued Boeing and Alaska Airlines for $1 billion over a door plug that flew out mid-air have settled the lawsuit with the companies out of court, according to one of the attorneys for the passengers.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, as part of the settlement agreement, according to the attorney.
Court documents show the suit was dismissed with prejudice on July 7, meaning the plaintiffs can not refile the same claim against the companies in the future.
The NTSB says the cause of last year's door plug blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight was Boeing's failure to "provide adequate training, guidance and oversight" to its factory workers.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) officially faults Boeing for the door plug flying off in mid-air during an Alaska Airlines flight leaving Portland, traumatizing nearly 200 passengers.
However, the NTSB credited the flight crew for keeping all 174 passengers safe during the terrifying moments, and making sure four unaccompanied minors, including a six-year-old on his first flight, were accounted for, along with two children under two-years-old sitting on laps of adults.
Its year-and-a-half long investigation details a lack of oversight by both Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that begins early on the production line.
Boeing released a statement on this, saying:
“We regret this accident and continue to work on strengthening safety and quality across our operations. We will review the final report and recommendations as we continue to implement improvements.”
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, in part:
“The FAA has fundamentally changed how it oversees Boeing. We have strengthened our oversight to address systemic production-quality issues and ensure accountability. A number of the NTSB’s recommendations have already been implemented, and those that have not are currently under review.
We are closely monitoring Boeing’s performance, meeting weekly with company leadership to review progress and challenges in implementing necessary reforms. FAA safety inspectors are embedded in Boeing’s facilities, conducting targeted audits and inspections.
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