Delta offers $30,000 to each passenger after Flight 4819 crash in Toronto
Delta Air Lines announced on Wednesday that it would compensate each passenger aboard Flight 4819 with $30,000 following a crash in Toronto this week.
Delta representatives were telling the passengers that the offer came with “no strings attached and does not affect rights,” a company spokesman said via email, News.Az reports, citing The New York Times.
The flight, traveling from Minneapolis, made a rough landing at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday, flipping upside down and leaving the aircraft belly-up with its right wing sheared off.
All 80 people aboard, including 76 passengers and four crew members, survived the incident. Of the 21 passengers who were taken to hospitals, all but one had been released by Wednesday morning, Delta said. None of the passengers had life-threatening injuries.
Three days after the crash, officials have released few details about the investigation. On Wednesday, Ed Bastian, Delta’s chief executive, said in an interview on CBS that the flight had been staffed by an “experienced crew” but provided little further information.
But it appears that passengers are already considering how to seek compensation from Delta. Rochon Genova, a Canadian law firm, said it had been retained by some of the passengers.
According to international treaties, when an international aviation accident causes injury or death, airlines in the United States are required to make advance payments to passengers if the airline determines that the money is necessary to cover their immediate economic needs.
If a passenger dies, the initial payment must be more than about $20,000, according to the Delta Air Lines website, which cites the Warsaw and Montreal Conventions which govern airplane liability. If the passenger is injured, the amount of the payment is determined by the airline.
Making such a payment does not mean the airline admits liability. If passengers later win compensation in a lawsuit, the initial payment will be deducted from the sum of the compensation.
Similar news
