US passenger sues BA for over £50,000 after Heathrow steps fall

An American passenger who broke her leg while getting off a flight at Heathrow is suing British Airways for more than £50,000, according to High Court documents reported by the Mirror, the Evening Standard and Metro. The airline is fighting the claim and denies it is liable for the fall.

No hearing has yet taken place, so none of the competing accounts has been tested in court.

What happened at Heathrow

Melissa Phillips, 49, from Maryland, was travelling back to the US from Israel via Heathrow when she fell on the aircraft steps in March 2023, the Mirror reported. Metro said the fall happened at Terminal 5 on 21 March 2023, while she was changing flights.

The Evening Standard reported that she suffered spiral fractures to her left fibula and tibia. According to her barrister, she was taken to hospital, had surgery and was flown home to the US days later.

What Ms Phillips's side says

Her barrister, Katherine Deal KC, said in court documents that the fall was caused by the airline's negligence. She argued there was minimal crowd control or direction from cabin crew as passengers went down damp steps, and described the disembarkation as "chaotic".

Ms Deal said Ms Phillips was jostled and knocked by other passengers before she fell. She claimed the airline failed to avoid or materially reduce the risk of passengers jostling each other on overcrowded steps, and failed to provide reasonably safe air transport services.

The court papers also set out the lasting effects of the injury. Ms Deal said her client continues to experience pain and some limitation of movement, that her ability to run her home was impaired, and that she has some psychological distress. Her symptoms are expected to be permanent, the barrister said.

What British Airways says

BA's barrister, Christopher Loxton, said in the airline's defence that passengers were not going down the steps in an unusual or unexpected manner, and he denied that the steps were damp. He said it was not normal operating procedure for crowd control to be in place or for cabin crew to give directions, and that staff did not see any disorderly or unusual disembarkation.

The airline's case is that Ms Phillips was likely to have fallen because she was not paying enough attention to how she was descending, and lost her footing. It also claims she caused herself to come into contact with other passengers or their luggage and did not hold the handrails.

BA has offered to pay £6,987 towards her medical expenses but continues to deny responsibility for the fall, the Mirror and Metro reported.

Why it matters for passengers

The case turns on a question that affects anyone who leaves a plane by steps rather than a jet bridge: what duty an airline has to manage crowds and keep passengers safe while they disembark. The two sides disagree about the condition of the steps, whether passengers were jostled and whether cabin crew should have been directing people.

Metro also reported that Ms Phillips's case was dismissed by a Maryland district court in 2024, which ruled it did not have jurisdiction because the incident happened in the UK. The claim is now before the High Court in England.

Around Prague, based on reporting by Mirror, Evening Standard, Metro

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