A frequent flier has recounted an aeroplane horror ordeal that left her injured and seeking compensation.
Kate Hugh Smith, 64, was travelling from Barbados to Gatwick Airport after spending some quality time with her family.
However, disaster struck when she allegedly got her fingers clamped underneath an armrest and on-board flight attendants failed to rapidly respond.
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Retired banker Kate, from Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, explained that she was on a British Airways flight back to the UK when the incident occurred.
While flying business class with her family, the Bronze BA member decided to put her seat tray down before adjusting her posture.
This, Kate claims, led to the right armrest ‘collapsing’ on her right hand and trapping her fingers, forcing her to experience excruciating pain.
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“I have never felt pain like it in my life,” she remembered. “I had to really pull to get my hand out as it was trapped under the arm rest for a minute or two.
"It was unbelievable pain. I had silent tears running down my face.”
Kate claims that she called out for a cabin crew member to help her but was unable to gain their attention.
Instead, the traveller turned to her husband, Peter Hugh Smith, for help by showing him her already-reddening digits.
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"He got up and went to the stewardess and asked for some ice and told them that his wife had hurt herself,” she explained. “He came back and gave me a bag of ice but it was very small.”
However, things went from bad to worse as the stewards allegedly continued to ignore Kate’s calls for assistance.
She continued: “At this point, the call button had been on for over 20 minutes. I shouted out really loudly 'excuse me' and about six or seven other passengers looked around.
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"Finally, a stewardess came over and I told her I had hurt my hand on the seat. She then went to get the manager and the manager came quite quickly.
"I explained what happened to them and said the plane seat was faulty and they looked at the arm rest that was stuck down and said 'oh yes, it is faulty, what has happened?'”
Kate said staff offered her more ice before taking a picture of her injured hand, which had apparently started to turn purple.
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She was then allegedly told that they’d make an incident report and would be in contact at a later date with the results.
Kate also claims that she was told to stay in the faulty seat as there wasn’t another free on the busy flight.
After returning to the UK, the 64-year-old went for an X-ray on her hand which confirmed that she had fractured and broken her right ring finger. As a result, she had to spend a month with it in a splint so it could heal.
Due to being promised that someone would ‘be in touch’, Kate decided to remain stoic and wait for BA staff to make good on their word.
However, on 9 January, she still hadn’t heard from representatives and decided to lodge her first complaint.
Kate flew again with British Airways on a pre-booked flight to San Fransisco on 13 February.
She said that she told staff on board the aircraft about her difficulties and was assured that her complaint would be escalated.
After this conversation, Kate said the airline got in touch with her on 5 March.
She was allegedly told by the airline's premium escalation team that while her complaint had been passed on to the legal team, there was nothing they could do about the injury she sustained.
Kate was also assured that she would receive an incident and assessment report within 30 days.
However, she claims she still hasn’t been sent this document and hasn’t received any compensation for her stressful ordeal.
“I was a very loyal BA customer,” Kate said. “The part that is very disappointing is that if the BA stewardess had shown more concern in the first place, I would be less bothered but she ignored me on the flight.
"It was only the manager who was nice when she realised what had happened to me.”
Kate further revealed that she now feels ‘completely dismissed’ as a British Airways customer.
She added that she has decided to fly with another airline on her forthcoming trip to Australia.
Responding to the claims, a spokesperson for BA told Tyla: "We're really sorry for our customer's experience and have been in contact with them to apologise for the delay while our teams continue to assess their claim.”
Kate claimed the airline has since reached out to offer her a ‘ridiculous’ settlement.
Ella Scott