Payment for flight attendant who was unable to work after turbulence broke a leg in seven places

A flight attendant left unable to land her dream job after breaking her leg in seven places during severe turbulence has won a six-figure payout. Eden Garrity, 31, was pushing a pram when the Thomas Cook flight from Cuba to Manchester ran into a violent Atlantic hail storm.

The impact of the turbulence pushed the flight 500 meters up, pinning Eden to the ground and breaking her ankle. Eden was unable to walk at all for two months after the incident and underwent numerous surgeries and intensive rehabilitation.

She was left with nerve damage that makes it painful to stand for long periods, meaning she can never return to work as cabin crew. And while the pay has been a massive help to her financially, Eden says it doesn’t make up for never getting to do her dream job again.

She said: “It left me bitter, I resent it. It’s just frustrating. It was the best job in the world and I feel like I lost a part of my personality. You see people you’re friends with and they’re traveling in the sky and I’m not, I’m forever on earth. I will never be able to fly to work again.

“I feel lost, I have a family and a son and it’s great, but I’m very limited in what I can do. I miss making memories, seeing different countries. If it wasn’t for the accident, I could have flown into the future and it’s horrible.

“I appreciate the payment, but it doesn’t bring back what I lost. It helps in terms of getting my own property but I’m 31 and have the rest of my life ahead of me and can’t do it. what I want to do.”

Eden, from Leigh, Greater Manchester, was left lying on the floor of the plane for an hour as seats were cleared after turbulence hit the flight. She was stretched out on the back row of the plane in agony and was eventually rushed to hospital as soon as they landed in Manchester – seven hours later.

Doctors said the impact of the plane’s floor was “like a sledgehammer” hitting his leg. He broke his fibula in five places, his tibia once, fractured the side of his leg and cracked his ankle bone.

Eden needed surgery to insert metal screws and plates inside her leg, as well as a huge external metal brace, and was unable to walk for two months. The aircraft had made a detour of around 100 miles to avoid poor weather conditions when it crossed the Atlantic in August 2019.

But Eden says she and other crew members were not told about the risk of turbulence either during the trip or in the pre-flight staff briefing. She said: “Usually if we’re going to have some turbulence they’ll tell us before the flight and let us know what the plans are.

“For example, they might say ‘we’re going to put seat belt signs on’ or ‘we’re not going to release you.’ The doctor said it was like a sledgehammer hitting the bottom of my foot.

“Six passengers picked me up and laid me on three seats in the back of the plane, and the ambulance was waiting for me at the airport. I wasn’t one of those people who always knew what they wanted to be when they grew up. up.

“I wasn’t particularly academic and I didn’t go to university, but when the opportunity came to become a flight attendant, I felt I had found my way in life. I absolutely loved my job and I knew it. I had found my calling, so to speak.

“So to suffer injuries so bad that I literally couldn’t turn around after the incident was absolutely heartbreaking. I suffered from depression and was diagnosed with PTSD and anxiety.”

Describing the incident shortly after it happened in 2020, Eden said the pilot asked crew members to be seated five seconds before the plane hit the storm. But Eden did not have time to secure the wagon and settle before severe disturbances.

The 27-year-old was suddenly pinned to the ground. Eden said at the time: “We got hit by a massive hail storm. After that, the pilot told me it went black all around him. It was by far the most turbulence I have ever experienced as a crew member or passenger.

“It was absolutely terrifying. The plane climbed 500 feet in seconds. The force of the turbulence pinned me to the ground and forced me to the floor.

“My feet were stuck on the ground and my ankle was completely broken. I didn’t realize what happened until I tried to take a step and collapsed. My ankle was at a right angle and I just started screaming. The bottom of my foot was pointed to the side.

“My body went into shock and I just started to panic. Eden sat on the floor for an hour while the chairs around her were free.

He was halfway through the flight when the “excruciating pain” began. She added: “The pain started when my shoes came off and I was put in a splint.”

Eden was rushed to Wythenshawe Hospital as soon as the Thomas Cook flight from Cuba touched down in Manchester. The AAIB accident report file said the plane experienced “unexpected severe turbulence” that lasted 90 seconds.

“The aircraft encountered severe turbulence which resulted in a disconnection of the autopilot with the increase in altitude of 500 meters,” the statement said. “It was accompanied by the sound of hail hitting the nose of the aircraft.”

Eden spent nine days in hospital.

Lawyers from Thompsons Solicitors argued that the staff should have been aware that the flight would encounter bad weather and extra precautions should have been taken. While Thomas Cook’s insurers denied liability for her injuries, Eden received an undisclosed six-figure compensation care package.

Personal injury expert Neil Richards, who represented Eden, said: “The circumstances surrounding the incident in which Miss Garrity sustained her injuries should have been foreseeable. The issue of flight safety, particularly when working in certain geographic regions, including the Caribbean, poses a known health and safety risk.

“Turbulence also poses an obvious and serious danger to everyone on board, and especially to airline personnel who have to work in and around the cabin in such environments.”

Unite’s legal director Stephen Pinder said: “I am pleased with the outcome for our member and their family. Unite will take the lessons learned in this case back into our industry to ensure other airline members are protected from similar incidents.”