Nollene Jensen said it was not long after the seatbelt signs were turned off on the Airbus A330-900 when the first wave of turbulence hit the Wednesday night Delta Air Lines flight from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam.
Her husband, who she said had just unbuckled his seat belt to go use the restroom, went airborne within the aircraft, hitting his head on the baggage storage bin above.
The first wave passed, she said, and he was able to get back into his seat and buckled in time for the second wave of turbulence, which “was so much worse.”
A few seats away, she said another man “went clear up.”
“When I saw him, I kept thinking, ‘Why is he up in the air?’” Jensen said. “But he had grabbed the exit sign that comes down from the ceiling and was holding onto that” while she believes his feet were on his seat.
When the third wave came, she said it was even worse. She, her husband, her son and other passengers aboard the aircraft knew something was wrong.
“This isn’t normal turbulence,” she remembered thinking. “This is really not good.”
Another passenger, who wished to remain anonymous given the public nature of what happened and the personal experience, said they remember the flight in bits and pieces.
When they got on the plane, they said a man in the next seat asked if they had flown a lot internationally. “I looked at him and I said, ‘You’re going to be just fine,’” they remembered.
The passenger, speaking from Amsterdam after they arrived in Europe, said it felt like the turbulence came out of nowhere.
Drinks sprang from their cups and ended up splashed over the ceiling, their legs and their hair, they said.
A flight attendant crouched in the aisle next to them with the drink cart. When the worst of the turbulence hit, they said he flew to the ceiling, and when he came back down, the drink cart ended up on his leg.
“It started swelling immediately,” they said.
After the plane diverted from its international course and landed in Minneapolis, Jensen said her husband was among the 25 passengers and crew members hospitalized. His neck had previously been fused in two places, and “does not bend.”
“Believe me, it bent,” she said. “I guarantee everyone that’s on there woke up today and is like, ‘Man, I hurt somewhere.’”
Unloading on the tarmac, she said it looked like a movie scene.
In a statement Thursday, Delta said it was working with affected customers “to assist them in their immediate needs, as well as coordinate their onward travel.”
Jensen said the company “bent over backwards” to help them and “take care of people the best they could,” even bringing their luggage to their hotel after they left the hospital after midnight.
Steven Marks, an aviation lawyer who has tried cases with injuries stemming from turbulence, said he believes the plane’s passengers likely are legally entitled to more.
Though the plane never left U.S. airspace, he said the flight still falls under international conventions that dictate the airline is responsible for up to roughly $250,000 of passengers’ damages. If those damages surpass that amount, he said the company is still responsible unless it can prove it was not at fault in any way.
Marks said Delta likely won’t face liability costs directly, because they’re insured.
He said passengers seeking compensation can get legal counsel to work with Delta’s insurance company. In some cases, he said settlements can be reached without legal action.
“Very often, we deal directly with the insurance company representatives long before a suit is filed. We do everything possible to avoid litigation, and that makes it much quicker and more efficient for the clients,” he said.
Delta declined to comment on whether the company is concerned with potential lawsuits from passengers who experienced significant turbulence.
“They’re insured,” Marks said. “The insurance company, in all probability, will not contest liability, will not try and prove the airline’s free from fault.” It will then, he said, “be a question of damages.”
“This is an unusual event, but it’s certainly not the first event, and it’s surprising in today’s world that it would ever occur because there’s so many different safety systems in place to prevent exactly this incident,” Marks said. “It still can occur unexpectedly. Air is not stable.”
Delta declined to elaborate on the injuries of passengers and crew members, and the Minneapolis airport’s fire department and general communications manager did not respond to requests for comment.
Marks said that, from his experience, injuries can vary in type and severity. Food carts can become airborne, people can break their ribs on arm rests, suitcases can injure people standing in the aisle. Usually, he said, the turbulence hits without warning.
“Most people end up in shock. Some people don’t really understand what has happened,” he said. “Some people walk off and they’ll never think about it. ... Other people are traumatized for life and will never fly again.”
Jensen told The Tribune that she and her husband waited in the airport in Minneapolis for a Thursday evening Delta flight to Amsterdam — and that the passengers who shared the turbulent flight from Salt Lake City were, “of course, very apprehensive.”
“This is what someone said to me: ‘Lightning doesn’t strike twice in the same place.’ So we’re all going with that.”
The anonymous flyer, who was traveling to Europe for work and to house-sit for a friend, said it was autopilot — “pun intended” — that got them on another flight so soon after the ordeal.
They said they were shaken, without their luggage and considering cutting her trip short, but said they would “make the best out of it.”