After a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis flipped upside down upon landing in Toronto Monday, the airline is now offering passengers $30,000 each for going through the frightening experience.
CBS News reported that a spokesperson for the company said the Delta Care Team is telling passengers “this gesture has no strings attached and does not affect rights.”
“Nobody knows what how you’d calculate if it's a fair amount,” CBS News travel editor Peter Greenberg told Audacy station KYW of the offer. “But what it is – it’s sort of a good faith offer that they’re telling the passengers they’re going to give them, regardless of whether they file a lawsuit against them or not.”
Delta Flight 4819, a CRJ900 aircraft operated by Endeavor Air, was carrying 76 passengers when it crash-landed at Toronto Pearson International Airport and there were no deaths. According to Delta, 21 of the passengers were injured in the incident and were transported to local hospitals. As of Thursday, all of the hospitalized passengers have been released.
“The Delta and Endeavor families are grateful that all those injured Monday have been released from the hospital, and we extend our thanks to everyone who provided care to them over the past few days,” said Delta CEO Ed Bastian. “We will continue to connect one-on-one with customers, employees and loved ones as we move forward to make sure their needs are met with care.”
Greenberg said what the $30,000 offer “really does is to talk about pain and suffering,” related to the accident. Audacy reported this week that at least three of the people hospitalized were critically injured, including a child, a woman in her 40s, and a man in his 60s.
KYW reporters noted that footage appears to show the plane that departed from Minneapolis International Airport was flying normally before it dipped and rolled over, causing sparks to fly from the runway. Delta said that the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and other stakeholders are beginning an investigation into what happened.
This incident also comes as part of a string of alarming headlines concerning flights, including deadly crashes in Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Alaska.
“This is the one case in the investigation of all investigations where the actual investigators have great evidence to work with,” said Greenberg of the Toronto crash. “They have great video. A pilot actually shot that video that you saw from the ground of that plane coming in and then hitting the runway. You also have the cockpit voice recorder, which gives them the last 30 minutes of conversations both in and from the cockpit. They have the flight data recorder, which talks about the performance of the plane, and then they have the actual plane… the physical evidence.”
He also noted that there are around 80 eyewitnesses, “all of whom are miraculously alive,” who can help investigators determine what went wrong.
“We’ll probably know within a week or two not only what happened, how it happened, but most importantly, why it happened,” Greenberg said.
Delta said that members of its TechOps team were part of a group of aviation professionals who removed the damaged aircraft from Toronto Pearson International Airport runway Wednesday evening. It added that this removal process took several hours.
Members of the Delta Care Team also continued their work connecting one-on-one with impacted customers and loved ones this week to assist with accommodations, meals, transportation and any other needs, such as finding bags removed from the aircraft. These care team members will be on site in Toronto for as long as customers need them and are expected to maintain connections after the customers return home, said the airline.
“With a goal of preserving and returning as many items to customers as quickly and safely as possible, Delta is working with a professional service to ensure any potentially harmful fluids from the accident are thoroughly cleaned from belongings,” Delta said. “The extensive inspection and cleaning process could mean that it’s a matter of weeks before customers are reunited with some of their bags – one of the reasons Delta continues to provide support for any needs of impacted customers.”