Grandmother sues US airline after alleged flight attendant fight

Monday 29 January 2024

A Jersey grandmother is suing an American airline after an altercation with a flight attendant allegedly left her with a black eye and a bruised body.

74-year-old Angela Siddell was flying from New York to Costa Rico with JetBlue airlines to celebrate her retirement when the incident unfolded, according to a lawsuit filed with the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Ms Siddell says that she was in the toilet while the cabin crew collected the rubbish.

The grandmother-of-four therefore placed her empty disposable teacup on the counter in the galley when she couldn’t find a bin.

A female flight attendant then addressed Ms Siddell in “an unusually loud and verbally aggressive manner”, the lawsuit claims.

Because of this behaviour, Ms Siddell – who is reportedly a former flight attendant herself – decided she would submit a written complaint to JetBlue.

However, the flight attendant refused to give the passenger her name or employee identification number.

The JetBlue staff also refused to provide the captain’s name.

Cabin crew allegedly told Ms Siddell that there was no complaint form or any paper on board for her to write down what happened.

She therefore began recording her summary of the incident on the back of a paper sick bag.

Ms Siddell claims that when she returned to the back of the aircraft to once again try to get the female employee’s name, the flight attendant “grabbed [her] wrist, while another JetBlue cabin crew member shoved [her] in the back with great force, pushing [her] body into the female crew member”.

The grandmother was then “shoved in the back again,” which she says caused her head to “violently strike one of the aircraft’s rear exit doors”, according to court documents.

Ms Siddell was handcuffed by the flight crew while a “male cabin crew member physically applied pressure” to her torso, causing her to have “extreme difficulty breathing”. 

The JetBlue flight was diverted to Orlando, Florida, where Ms Siddell and her travel partner were forced off the plane.

Upon landing, the grandmother provided a statement to airport police.

Officers cut off the handcuffs, and confirmed that the JetBlue employees had “secured the handcuffs excessively tight”.

Ms Siddell is alleging that she “sustained bodily injuries, was incapacitated from employment and suffered pain, suffering, and mental anguish” because of the incident with JetBlue.