After the frightening ordeal that occurred on an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland to Ontario, where pieces of the plane blew off as it was thousands of feet in the air, several passengers are seeking compensation for the intense incident.
A door plug blew off the Boeing 737 MAX 9 shortly after taking off from Portland, Oregon, triggering cabin decompression and leaving a gaping hole in the aircraft.
Many items were lost, including shoes, cell phones, and even a shirt that was torn off a 16-year-old boy seated on the plane.
Now, three passengers aboard Flight 1282 are suing the airline and Boeing for $1 billion.
Amanda Strickland and her boyfriend, Kyle Rinker, are two of the people filing the lawsuit, claiming the incident has left them with a fear of flying.
“I don’t think there’s been a day that’s gone by that we haven’t thought about it,” said Strickland in reference to the chaotic Flight 1282.
“I know that some people were able to text loved ones and say what was happening. We couldn’t even do that we just had to hold on to each other,” she added.
Strickland, Rinker, and a third passenger, Kevin Kwok, have filed a lawsuit against Boeing and Alaska Airlines for $1 billion, claiming the incident was caused by negligence by both companies.
The suit reads that all three have suffered from severe emotional trauma and post-traumatic stress.
“I just made sure I was holding on to the seat… making sure our seatbelts were… double checking them,” said Rinker.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says that four crucial bolts designed to hold the door plug in place were removed before the flight and never put back in.
Boeing is also facing another class action lawsuit filed by other passengers on the flight.
“It was horrible. Our lives are gonna be forever changed now. Like I said, we don’t know if we’ll ever be able to get on a plane again,” Strickland stated. “Now we have to change our lives around this fear of flying.”
