A class action lawsuit against LOT Polish Airlines alleges negligent maintenance on aircrafts that leads to cancelations and willful indifference towards fliers left to deal with wrecked itineraries.
Filed Oct. 8 in Illinois’ Northern District, the class action lawsuit argues LOT Polish Airlines fails to deliver on-time flights for its customers because of chronic crew shortages and extensive ground maintenance issues.
Specifically, the complaint details four flights since 2018 that were delayed for at least seven hours before ultimately being canceled. For some plaintiffs, these delays came out to nearly a full day.
For “12 to 24 hours the … Plaintiffs were confined at various areas of O’Hare International Airport without or with very limited access to food, refreshments and lavatories,” according to the class action lawsuit.
The plaintiffs describe how they were left in the dark about what was happening and were never offered any compensation for food or lodging.
LOT Polish Airlines employees were “not willing to provide any care for estranged passengers and … were not advising their passengers as to cause, nature, extent, duration of delay of departing flights,” the plaintiffs said.
The class action lawsuit claims staff had a “legal duty … to provide local lodging, food, certain telecommunication services” after these delays but that LOT Polish Airlines failed to do so.
One of the plaintiffs was “forced to procure medication to mitigate impact of this ordeal upon her health.”
The complaint further alleges that “although she complained of physical exhaustion to LOT’s customer service, she was not offered any medical assistance or any meaningful help.”
Plaintiffs say they were offered a flight the next day, but for some passengers, it was too late.
These LOT Polish Airlines customers “missed important family reunions, business meetings, several days of their pre-paid vacation time, as well as several days of their work” according to the complaint.
One of the plaintiffs booked a ticket to Ukraine January 24 to assist in a medical operation, according to the class action lawsuit, but missed “his unique business opportunity” because of the cancelation. He had waited seven hours until LOT Polish Airlines told him the next available flight was not until the next day.
In another instance, a plaintiff was returning home to New York but was stranded for an extra day in Ukraine without lodging or food compensation.
Even more, plaintiffs claim, LOT Polish Airlines ignored their written requests demanding compensation after the fact.
The plaintiffs are proposing to form a Class from fliers boarding these LOT Polish Airlines flights:
- Flight LO 04 departing from Chicago to Warsaw on Jan. 24, 2020
- Flight 764 from Lviv to Warsaw on Sept. 24, 2019
- Flight 46 from Toronto to Warsaw flown on Sept. 14, 21 and 24, 2018
They are seeking “compensable economic damages of lost wages” and “out-of-pocket expenses for additional Per Diem” expenses from these LOT Polish Airlines delays.
The plaintiffs argue LOT Polish Airlines violates rules set forth by the Montreal Convention established in 1999 to “be a single universal treaty to govern airline liability,” citing specifically Article 19, with claims LOT Polish Airlines “is liable for economic out-of-pocket pecuniary damages caused by delay or cancellation[s].”
Recently, airlines have been updating their “contract of carriage” terms with its customers to waive any class action rights, according to The New York Times, instead requiring private arbitration in any disputes.
The modified terms haven’t stopped legal action against Frontier and Spirit airlines, however, according to The New York Times’ report. Similar lawsuits were filed against those companies despite having “no class action” clauses in their passenger agreements.
Have you booked a flight with LOT Polish Airlines and were then severely delayed without some kind of compensation? Let us know in the comments below.
Counsel representing plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit are Vladimir M. Gorokhovsky, Vasyl Rusak, Igor Predko, Liubomyr Kondratiuk, Aleksey Balachov, Nataliya Chebrick, Yelena Srivastva And Oksana Makarenko of Gorokhovsky Law Office, LLC.
The LOT Polish Airlines Class Action Lawsuit is Predko v. LOT Polish Airline, Case No. 1:20-cv-06020, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.
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British Airways Class Action Says Airline Denied COVID-19 Refunds
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One thought on LOT Polish Airlines Negligent With Maintenance, Customers: Class Action Lawsuit
I bought two tickets too poland and back this was canceled bc covid restriction then they give us voucher valid 2 years for another flight.And finally they said not fly from lax to the march next year,so we cancel ticket and for last 3 month we wait for money back