An Israeli couple sued United Airlines after their six-year-old daughter was burned by a hot meal on a flight to Newark, the New York Post reported. According to the couple, the incident occurred when the meal slid off a defective tray table and left the girl "disfigured."
Michal Fefferman was flying to New Jersey with her young child, identified only as O.F., the lawsuit, in July 2022 when she was handed a meal tray by a flight attendant.
According to Fefferman, when she put the meal on her daughter's tray table, it slid off the tray table and burned the child.
The lawsuit reads, “Although the meal tray should have provided a level surface so that food and/or drinks like the meal tray at issue could be placed on them safely, this particular tray table was defective, slanting downward toward the seat where O.F. sat.”
“The food contents on O.F.’s meal tray were unreasonably hot and caused O.F. to suffer severe burn injuries,” the lawsuit continued.
The parents accuse United Airlines of failing to equip the plane with the medical supplies to treat burn injuries, leaving their daughter to suffer the effects of her burns without adequate treatment until the end of the 12-hour flight.
According to the couple, their daughter remains "scarred and disfigured" as a result of the incident.
The lawsuit accuses United of failing to properly maintain the aircraft's tray tables, serving a meal at temperatures safe for a child, and training its flight staff to treat burn injuries.
The couple are seeking to have their daughter's medical costs covered as well as over $75,000 in damages.