A United Airlines passenger says she was left in agonizing pain after a flight attendant knocked a scalding hot cup of water into her lap during a 14 and a half hour flight from Johannesburg to Newark.
Angela McConnell is now suing the airline for negligence, as well as a claim under the Montreal Convention, which gives passengers broad rights to compensation if they are injured during an international flight.
According to a recently filed lawsuit in a California district court, Angela was left with horrific second-degree burns to her body, with skin tearing away from a large open burn wound after a flight attendant dropped the hot cup of water.
The incident occurred on July 13, 2023, when Angela was traveling from Johannesburg to San Francisco with a layover in Newark.
Around two hours into the long-haul flight, the flight attendants were wrapping up the meal service when Angela asked for a cup of hot tea. The flight attendant placed the cup of hot water on Angela’s tray table, but it fell over and spilled into Angela’s lap.
Angela says she was left in intense and unrelenting pain from a severe and agonizing burn, but the flight attendants onboard United Airlines flight UA-187 did little to help her.
Initially, the flight attendants didn’t offer Angela any help but eventually provided her with a small baggie of ice, which, unsurprisingly, only exacerbated the pain and made the injury worse.
Warning: Never apply ice directly to a burn.
While it may seem like a quick way to relieve the pain, ice can actually cause further tissue damage and worsen the injury. Instead, cool the burn with running water for at least 10–20 minutes
Around three hours later, and with around nine hours of the flight left, the flight attendants eventually brought a gauze for Angela to place on the burn but no other First Aid was offered and the crew never attempted to page for a medical professional on the flight.
Upon arrival in Newark, Angela sought help from United staffers in the airport, but the lawsuit claims that the United employees intentionally dismissed her and insisted that it was company protocol that the First Aid could not be opened to change a dressing.
Angela eventually arrived in San Francisco on July 14, 2023, and immediately sought professional medical help at Palo Alto Medical Foundation urgent care, where she was diagnosed with severe burns.
To this day, Angela has been undergoing treatment at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center’s Burn Unit. Angela is likely to be permanently scarred as a result of this burn injury.
Angela is suing United for more than $75,000 in damages, using Article 17 of the Montreal Convention as the main driver in her lawsuit against the airline.
What is Article 17 of the Montreal Convention?
The Montreal Convention is an international treaty that was ratified in 1999 and enacted in 2023, which is designed to guarantee passengers certain rights, especially in relation to injury or death, as well as how baggage and cargo is handled.
Article 17 of the Montreal Convention makes airlines liable for injuries sustained by passengers during the course of an international flight, stating:
“The carrier is liable for damage sustained in case of death or bodily injury of a passenger upon condition only that the accident which caused the death or injury took place on board the aircraft or in the course of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking.”
Airlines have few defenses against a claim under Article 17 of the Montreal Convention, but they can be found not liable if they prove that the passenger’s injury was a result of their own negligence or caused by another passenger.
Do burn injuries usually prevail under the Montreal Convention?
Airlines normally settle claims under Article 17 of the Montreal Convention before they reach trial, but case law from Europe has generally found that airlines are liable for burn injuries caused by spilled drinks that have just been handled by a flight attendant.
Ultimately, individual claims have to be judged on their own merits in court, but as a general guide, injured passengers have a good claim under the Montreal Convention for burn injuries caused by a flight attendant spilling the drink or, say, because of a faulty tray table.
What is the maximum amount of compensation that passengers can claim under Article 17?
The Montreal Convention stipulates compensation limits within Article 21, although these are quoted as Special Drawing Rights (SDR), which isn’t a currency but rather an international reserve asset that was created by the International Monetary Fund.
The simplest way to view Special Drawing Rights is as a ‘basket’ of currencies made up of the US dollar, the Euro, the Chinese Yuan, the Japanese Yen, and the British Pound.
Just like currencies, the value of SDR also fluctuates.
When the Montreal Convention was created, the compensation limit was set at 100,000 SDR, but this limit has been increased on several occasions. Most recently, in December 2024, the limit was increased to 151,880 SDR.
Reduce your risk of a scald injury:
The number of times I’ve written about passengers, including young children, suffering life-changing scald injuries from spilled drinks on airplanes is truly frightening. As a flight attendant, this is what I would suggest to reduce the risk:
- Most spillages occur when the cup is placed on a tray table – make sure the table isn’t slanted and put a napkin between the tray and cup to give it some grip on the slippery surface.
- Have a blanket, newspaper, or some other layer between your lap and the tray table. If the cup spills, you can quickly remove the extra layer, preventing the liquid from reaching your lap.
- Airlines shouldn’t serve hot drinks when the seatbelt signs are on, but if they do, don’t take up the flight attendants’ offer. Spillages are commonly connected to turbulence.
Strange…most airlines have connections, via radio, with medical specialists. I wonder why the crew didn’t request connection? Many of the modern aircraft have audio jacks throughout the aircraft where the attending person can put on a headset, have the flight crew “patch” the person through the airline’s control center and then via a telephone link to the ground based medical specialist. Or…ask if there’s a physician or medical person aboard who could also offer assistance.
Exactly how hot is water from the time it is heated, poured, tea bag placed and the cup hauled to a seat ? Since it was placed on the tray, isn’t that the point of ownership transfer? She asked for hot cup of tea, she received a hot cup of tea. It is on her tray, she is an adult.