Four flight attendants are suing Boeing over the door plug blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight last year that injured eight people and left those near the open doorframe in fear for their lives.
The flight attendants, who filed their lawsuits separately, claim they received physical and psychological injuries during the ordeal. They are seeking compensation for past and future economic damages stemming from those complications.
The aircraft involved in the accident was a Boeing 737 Max 9.
The lawsuits were filed this week in King County Superior Court in Washington state. They accuse Boeing of negligence in its manufacturing and repair processes and claim the company delivered a product that was unsafe to operate.
“Each of the four flight attendants acted courageously, following their training and putting their passengers’ safety first while fearing for their lives,” Tracy Brammeier, the attorney representing each of the plaintiffs, said in a statement to CNN. “They deserve to be wholly compensated for this life-altering traumatic experience.”
Boeing has not responded publicly to the lawsuits.
Laying Blame
The manufacturer, together with Alaska Airlines, has already faced lawsuits filed by passengers of Flight 1282, but this is the first time either company has been sued by crewmembers over the incident.
In July, Boeing and Alaska settled one of those cases for an undisclosed amount. The three plaintiffs, who cited extreme mental distress, originally sought $1 billion in compensation. They argued that figure was reasonable because the detached door plug could have gone into the aircraft’s engine or destroyed its tail, which could have resulted in the deaths of everyone on board.
An attorney representing the passengers said the final terms cannot be disclosed as part of the settlement agreement.
The door plug failed about six minutes into the Alaska Airlines flight from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, in January 2024. The aircraft experienced a decompression, which damaged parts of the cabin interior and dropped unsecured items like cellphones, paper, clothing, and children’s toys onto the Portland suburbs below.
The 737 Max returned to the airport and landed without further incident. One flight attendant and seven passengers received minor injuries, and no one was killed.
In July, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) ruled that ultimately responsibility for the blowout lay with Boeing for failing to provide adequate training and oversight for its workers.
The NTSB’s report found that the left mid exit door plug at the center of the accident was missing four critical installation bolts. It faulted Boeing’s safety and quality processes for not catching the problem and failing to properly document every person who worked on the door plug and the surrounding fuselage.
