Thank God I’m Alive to Sue!

I was kind of disgusted, but not really surprised to hear that some of the passengers on the US Air flight that made an emergency splash landing smack in the middle of the Hudson River on January 15^th are now looking into possible civil suits against the airliner.

It seems that the euphoria over being alive has worn off, and the euphoria over a potential big pay-day has kicked in! US Air has already paid each of the 155 passengers five grand for the loss of their property and of course, paid for medical expenses. However, that and the fact that they survived a landing that would usually be fatal isn’t enough for some people.

One passenger in particular, Joe Hart, a salesman from Charlotte North Carolina, told USA Today that “he would like to be made whole for the incident”. Mr. Hart is lucky to be “whole” in the first place, instead of being in a hundred pieces at the bottom of the Hudson! Hart also went on to say that it’s too soon after the accident to determine what emotional distress he has suffered. Anyone have a Kleenex?

The fact is that US Air was in no way at fault for the accident. The incident seems to have been caused by a flock of Canadian Geese flying into the engines of the aircraft – an act of nature! Even the slickest of shysters would have a hard time proving that the accident could have been avoided by US Air.

The attorneys for Mr. Hart and others know full well that they would lose this case if it ever got into a courtroom. They do this to pressure the company to “settle” in order to avoid bad publicity. Maybe Mr. Hart should think about suing Canada for letting their geese migrate into United States airspace. Oh I forgot – it’s Global Warming that’s wreaking havoc on the poor birds migrating patterns.

Give me a freaking break!

UPDATE: 

US Air has now offered all of the 155 passengers  first-class upgrades for one year.

Many of the passengers are saying that it’s not enough, and that they should be given first-class upgrades for Life!

It’s funny how flying first-class has a way of curing fear of flight.

Maybe US Air should pay all of their mortgages off as well. Shameless!!!!