A group of passengers, including two young children, who were left injured when the wing tip of a Delta Air Lines plane struck the wing of the Spirit Airlines aircraft that they were boarding, are now suing both carriers for negligence.
The lawsuit was filed in a California district court earlier this week, although the case refers to an incident that occurred at Cleveland International Airport in Ohio on May 12, 2024.
At around 8 pm, the passengers were in the process of boarding Spirit Airlines flight NK-655. At around the same time, a Delta Air Lines Boeing 737, which had been parked at an adjacent gate, had been given permission to push back for departure.
As the Boeing 737 was being maneuvered, the wingtip of the Delta jet collided with the Spirit Airlines Airbus A321. The collision was at an extremely low speed, but it was enough to jolt the Spirit plane and send some of the passengers flying.
One of those passengers was Shawnell Byrd, who was at the back of the aircraft. They were standing in the aisle and about to take their seat when they were jolted sideways. The next thing they remember is experiencing a headache and pain in the neck, back, and hips.
Shawnell was diagnosed with a slew of injuries, including lumbur and neck strain. His medical bill set him back at least $3,499.
Traveling with Shawnell was Cherice D. Jones-Byrd, who was sitting at the point of impact but was jolted forward, causing her to hit her head.
A third member of the family, Amir R. Byrd, was also standing in the aisle at the point of impact, as he placed his carry-on in the overhead bin. Amir also ended up striking his head, along with his right arm and left knee.
Chamirra Lewis was also injured as she attempted to get her child comfortable. She was thrown forward as the Delta plane clipped the Spirit aircraft, causing her to be jolted forward and hit her head.
The lawsuit claims that Delta was negligent in the way it moved its aircraft in a way that it collided with the Spirit plane. Interestingly, the plaintiffs are also suing Spirit, claiming the now bankrupt carrier failed to protect its passengers and failed to “implement a reasonable safety response.”
There have been a number of low-speed wing-tip collisions between aircraft at U.S. airports over the last couple of years, but, thankfully, in the vast majority of cases, all passengers are already seated and strapped in, minimising the number of casualties.
The aircraft involved, don’t, however, often escape unharmed.
Frontier Airlines is currently suing American Airlines for more than $770,000 for damage caused to two of its aircraft during low-speed taxiing collisions at Miami International and Boston Logan.
The second incident at Boston Logan occurred on November 25, 2024, when an American Airlines plane collided with the wing of a parked Frontier aircraft as it was pulling into its gate.
The Frontier plane had to be immediately taken out of service, and the flight was cancelled so that engineers could assess the extent of the damage, which turned out to be so bad that the aircraft was grounded for six days for extensive repairs.
According to Frontier’s attorneys, the cost of the repair alone came to
$670,387.45
Nearly a year after the accident, in September 2025, American Airlines agreed to cover half the cost of the repair, which Frontier accepted while retaining the right to recover costs and damages at a later date.
Frontier is demanding American Airlines pay the oustanding $335,193.73 of the repair bill, as well as “substantial damages” for lost profits and operational costs stemming from the airplane’s grounding.
