Injured at the Airport?

With nearly 40 million passengers flying through Boston’s Logan International Airport in 2017, one of the world’s busiest airports is also the potential site for thousands upon thousands of incidents that lead to traumatic injuries, up to and including wrongful deaths. If you or someone you love was injured in an accident at any airport in Massachusetts, Logan or elsewhere, contact the Cambridge personal injury specialists at Altman & Altman LLP to get started on a claims process today.

Airports host a multitude of potential ways for passengers to become injured, including:

Slips and falls

Many airports have large spans of areas covered in linoleum or other types of tile. When this type of flooring gets wet, it can become a slipping hazard. Perhaps the floors were just cleaned and the maintenance crew failed to put out a caution sign, or inclement weather outside turned the main entry points into a slushy mess. It is the airport’s responsibility to ensure slip hazards are cleaned up.

Escalator/elevator/inclinator accidents

Logan Airport utilizes all three of these people-moving machines to transport their passengers throughout the expansive facility. Escalators, elevators and inclinators (the escalator-like moving walkways) all require regular inspection and attention to ensure they run properly and do not pose a danger to those who use them. All of these implements have the potential to cause serious injuries if the airport displays negligence in caring for them.

Injuries on jetways or boarding ramps

Once boarding begins, injuries can occur frequently on jetways or boarding ramps, which often times have inclines or sudden steps up or steps down that may cause someone to trip and fall, possibly leading to injuries. In certain cases, ramps may be unreasonably steep or be otherwise dysfunctional, making injuries more likely.

Accidents outside the airport

While you may not think of it all the time, perhaps the most likely place to get injured at the airport is actually outside of the airport itself, in the drop off area or the areas of road immediately prior to getting to the airport. Logan notoriously has a high-traffic stretch of road leading into and out of it, which can be ripe grounds for motor vehicle accidents or pedestrians being hit by vehicles. In these instances, serious injuries are extremely likely.

Injuries to airport employees

Airport workers are susceptible to a host of possible injuries, from lifting injuries causing torn muscles to crushing injuries from falling luggage or malfunctioning equipment, all the way up to the most tragic incidents such as being maimed by an aircraft or other mobile pieces of machinery on the tarmac. In the instance an employee is injured, we will ensure they are given their guaranteed workers’ compensation and pursue further claims for damages if necessary.

Injuries in airport facilities

Perhaps you develop food poisoning from an airport restaurant, or an overloaded display of merchandise fails and falls onto you, or a coffee shop fails to clean up a spill and leads to a slip and fall head injury, airport facilities all have a responsibility to ensure safe access to their potential customers.

For many people, flying is already a stressful experience. An injury occurring at the airport before takeoff should not add to their concerns – unfortunately, such injuries are far more common than injuries occurring as the result of plane crashes or plane incidents. The combination of risk factors and the number of people guarantee that more will be injured in the ways outline above than other means.

If you or someone you love has been injured at an airport in any of the ways listed above – or in any other way – the personal injury attorneys at Altman & Altman LLP will be able to help. We have over 50 years of experience advocating for our clients to help them get money they need to pay for medical expenses, recover funds lost from being unable to work or to ensure they can collect workers’ compensation that they need to pay their bills.

Contact us online or call for a free consultation to go over the details of your case today at 617.492.3000 or toll-free at 800.481.6199. We are available 24/7.