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Teen passes out from heat boarding plane
A 17-year-old passed out on a jet bridge at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, and her parents are blaming the extreme heat as the cause. FOX 9’s Courtney Godfrey has the details.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A North Carolina teen was hospitalized Sunday after her father says they waited on a non-air-conditioned jet bridge for more than fifteen minutes in extreme heat.
Brian Harrison said the family was boarding the plane at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport when his 17-year-old daughter started to show signs of heat exposure. Harrison said the jet bridge was not air conditioned and American Airlines staff did not warn passengers before they entered.
"Being from the south, I know about heat," said Harrison. "It was over 100 degrees in that jetway."
Harrison said they were almost on the plane when the teen started to lose color and become weak. By the time she got into the air-conditioned aircraft, she passed out and had to be taken to the hospital by emergency responders.
"No one was looking out for the passengers," said Harrison. "They were just loading them on like cattle trying to get them on so they could get on to their next route."
Aviation attorney Mark K. Schwartz has litigated several jet bridge injury cases and says this is the first he’s ever heard of a heat-related injury. He says while the incident is unfortunate, he does not believe the airline is liable.
"I think this is more of a customer service dispute than a legal claim," said Schwartz.
Schwartz calls airport jet bridges "a gray area" when it comes to regulations and responsibility. He says there are no laws limiting how long passengers can be left waiting on the walkway or rules about climate control.
"I’ve never heard of a claim related to that before," he said. "On airplanes – yes. Stuck on an airplane with no air conditioning, yes. But nothing like that ever on a jet bridge."
In a statement, American Airlines said, "We strive to provide a positive experience to everyone who travels with us. A member of our team has reached out to the customer to learn more about what occurred."
A spokesperson with Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport said they do not have any information to suggest a recent trend of heat-related medical calls at the airport.
The Metropolitan Airport Commission owns most of the jet bridges at MSP and says the majority are air-conditioned.