An Alaska Airlines jet with a foot-long hole in its fuselage was forced to make an emergency descent from 26,000 feet and return to Sea-Tac Airport after the plane lost cabin pressure. The one that left a 12 inch by 6 inch gash in the side of an Alaskan Airlines MD-80.
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Well a group of passengers on that aircraft have filed a suit against the airline. Alaska Airlines was sued by six passengers who were aboard a jetliner that lost cabin pressure at 26,000 feet.
A foot-long gash opened in the aluminum skin of the jet on Dec. 26 during a flight from Seattle to Burbank, Calif. The pilot took the plane down and returned to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Nobody aboard was seriously hurt, but the suit contends six passengers suffered hearing damage.
They also were shaken by "what they thought was their near-death experience," said their lawyer, James Kreindler.
The plane's fuselage was creased when a baggage handler bumped it with equipment in Seattle, federal investigators said.
The suit, filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, contends that Alaska and the ground services contractor, British-based Menzies Aviation, improperly handled the accident, which the baggage handler failed to report.
The plaintiffs, including Los Angeles residents Mark Reveley and Emma Hellsten and four others who live in Sweden, seek damages to be determined at trial.
A call to Alaska Airlines corporate office in Seattle was not immediately returned Saturday.
Menzies spokesman David Marriott told the Los Angeles Times that the company had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.
USAtoday
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This is what you get when you fire your unionized workers and out source your ramp work to non unionized workers. Menzies, the UK based aviation group that provides ramp side work for ASA, has cost the airline several profitable shipping contracts. It is said that ASA has last several contracts to ship Salmon from Alaska because of ramp workers.
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