Virgin Australia Airline is facing compliant by a 16-year-old boy for not providing enough medical assistance. The young man suffered from scarring burns due to spilled hot coffee when a cup served by cabin crew glided from a tray table into his lap. He suffered blisters to his groin, thighs, genitals and legs.
"It was excruciating and probably the worst pain I have ever felt... I ran to the toilet and Dad immediately started putting cold water on the burn," Rhett Butler narrated on a report of the Daily Mail. The incident happened soon after takeoff on the Los Angeles to Sydney flight. The complainant is from Melbourne, Australia and travelling with his father, Brian Butler, on May 2015 when it happened.
Due to the limited resources while onboard, the Butlers used their own bandages. The aircraft staff only provided total of 12 bottles of cold water to soothe the damaged areas and stopped giving them more than that. Two ice packs were also given by the crew. The father and son tandem was furious because of insufficient supply and first aid treatment. Rhett was treated by paramedics when they landed in Sydney.
Virgin Australia confirmed the incident in a report from News.com.au on Monday, quoted, "An incident did occur on flight VA2 from Los Angeles to Sydney on 3 May 2015." The airlines representative did not give any other comments but attest that their main concern is the safety of their passengers. He said, "Virgin Australia takes the safety and comfort of our passengers extremely seriously, however given this particular matter has not yet been resolved it would not be appropriate to comment any further."
The painful wounds due to burns, Rhett had difficulty in walking and he was bullied at school because of the way he walked. They said that he walks like a gorilla. It took him three months for the wounds to get healed. But the memories of the unfortunate event, lingers in his memories for a long time, that they have finally decided to file a complaint against the airlines this year. Shine Lawyers' Thomas Janson, represents the Butlers in their case. They are filing for damages and asking the airlines to change their coffee cup, insisting that the staff should serve hot beverages with lids to avoid same incident to happen again.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
