- A 6-year-old girl was left with a scar after eating a hot meal on a United Airlines flight, according to a lawsuit.
- It claims the tray table was “defective” and caused the food to fall into the girl’s lap.
- The lawsuit accuses United Airlines of failing to properly train flight attendants to treat burn injuries.
Two parents are suing United Airlines after their 6-year-old daughter suffered burns from eating hot food due to a defective tray table.
Michal and Ben Pfefferman filed the lawsuit in Chicago court last Wednesday, and Business Insider witnessed it. The incident reportedly occurred in 2022 on a flight from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Newark, New Jersey.
According to the complaint, a flight attendant handed the “unreasonably hot” meal to the girl’s mother, who placed it on a tray table.
However, it added: “This tray table was defective and was tilted downwards towards the seat.”
The meal then slipped onto the 6-year-old’s lap, according to the complaint. She suffered “severe” burns and was “scarred and disfigured,” it added.
The girl’s mother sought treatment from flight attendants, but the plane did not have proper equipment to treat burns, so they were unable to properly help the girl, the suit says.
The 6-year-old boy “suffered extreme discomfort for the remainder of the 12-hour flight,” according to the complaint.
The lawsuit alleges that United Airlines did not properly train flight attendants on how to safely serve hot meals to minor passengers and how to respond in the event of a burn injury.
The Fettermans requested a jury trial, seeking more than $75,000 in medical bills and unspecified damages.
Their lawsuit alleges negligence and liability under the Montreal Convention, an international treaty that holds airlines liable for injuries to passengers on board their aircraft unless they can prove the passenger was at fault.
When contacted by BI, United Airlines said it cannot comment on pending litigation.
