It’s almost impossible to defend dumping a transpacific flight’s worth of jet fuel over a populated area. In January 2020, Delta Air Lines got in hot water after one of its planes dumped 15,000 pounds over Los Angeles instead of the Pacific Ocean. The Atlanta-based airline agreed this week to pay $78.75 million to settle a class action lawsuit over the incident. Despite dousing multiple schools while children were outside, Delta denied any wrongdoing.
Delta Flight 89 was scheduled to fly from Los Angeles to Shanghai. However, the pilots reported a compressor stall in their Boeing 777’s right engine. The flight crew declined to hold position over the ocean, seemingly believing that they had the situation under control. Despite what the pilots said to air traffic controllers, they dumped the plane’s fuel over a five-mile stretch of LA while approaching LAX for an emergency landing. The plane landed safely, but five elementary schools and a high school were doused in jet fuel. According to the Los Angeles Times, the children in a physical education class thought it was raining before spotting the plane over them. The flammable shower led to 60 children and adults being treated for skin and lung irritation.
Delta claims its pilots did nothing wrong
Delta’s position on the matter is that the Federal Aviation Administration cleared its pilots of any wrongdoing. According to Reuters, the airline stated that “it settled to avoid the uncertainty, distraction and cost of litigation.” From the total settlement figure, $50.6 million will be distributed to the owners or residents of approximately 38,000 properties. I presume it would be difficult for any attorney to convince a jury that dumping jet fuel on kids is perfectly acceptable if you follow every FAA regulation.
I’m sure that Delta wants to put this incident behind them in its centennial anniversary year to focus on making its future more profitable. The airline announced in July that it wants to use artificial intelligence to set its ticket prices. Despite the understandable fear surrounding surveillance pricing, Delta promised that only trip-related factors would be used to determine fares. Delta’s new partnership with online sportsbook DraftKings doesn’t instill any confidence that they’ll keep to its promise not to financially exploit its customers.