Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad is being sued by a man who claimed that being seated in the economy next to an overweight passenger during a flight from Dubai to Sydney left him with back injuries. Australian traveler James Bassos claims he had such a harrowing experience sitting next to a coughing, obese passenger that he is suing Etihad Airlines. He is claiming $227,000 Australian dollars ($166,000) for medical expenses and lost earnings.
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Court filings allege Bassos had to “contort and twist” in his seat to prevent having to make physical contact with the other passenger, who was purportedly coughing a lot during the flight and occasionally “expelled fluid from his mouth”.
However Judge Fleur Kingham refused to strike out the claim, adding that she was “not satisfied Mr Bassos had no real prospects of success and that there is no need for a trial of the claim”.
“Etihad Airways will continue to oppose the action and now that Mr Bassos will finally face a medical assessment in December 2015, as directed by court, we believe that the matter will proceed to an early conclusion”, an Etihad Airways spokeswoman said on Friday.
After five hours of pain and discomfort, he asked to be moved, but was told the flight was full, he said.
Etihad predicted in a statement on Friday that a court-ordered medical assessment in December would bring the case to a swift end.
But Bassos said he twice had to return to his allocated seat, including for the final 90 minutes before landing, for safety reasons.
Etihad has made efforts to have the case dismissed, arguing that the injuries claimed to be sustained weren’t the result of an accident and therefore the airline isn’t liable, per CNN.
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In a brief phone conversation, Mr Bassos referred Daily Mail Australia’s inquiries to his lawyer as he was boarding a flight.
