Widow sues Air France, claims bumping led to husband's death

Widow sues Air France, claims bumping led to husband's death

USA TODAY, Dec. 28, 2007

The widow of an Air France passenger is suing the airline for bumping her husband. She claims the airline's decision to bump her husband "caused him to miss a life-saving dialysis treatment at home," Travel Weekly (free registration) writes. Carmelita Llorera and the estate of Romiel Llorera are listed as plaintiffs in a suit Travel Weekly says was filed in San Francisco. It charges Air France with breach of contract, negligence and wrongful death.

The Llorera family had been booked on a Paris-to-San Francisco flight on Jan. 2, 2006, but were told when they arrived at the airport that they had been bumped from their flight because it was oversold. Romiel Llorera was scheduled for dialysis treatment in San Francisco the following day, and court papers say that the family "repeatedly advised" Air France agent about his need to make it to California for the treatment. "The airline booked the family on a flight the next day. He died on the flight home," Travel Weekly writes.

The suit also claims that Air France did not follow its own denied-boarding procedures because it did not offer enough incentives to encourage more fliers to volunteer to switch from the overbooked flight to another one. The suit is seeking punitive damages against Air France, though no specific amount was stated. Air France told Travel Weekly it could not comment since it had not seen the suit, but the carrier added that it takes "very seriously any incident involving the death or injury of one of its passengers onboard its flights."

Posted at 09:40 AM/ET, Dec 28, 2007 in Airline ratings and performance, International carriers