A Ryanair flight attendant was granted €84,790 in compensation after slipping on greasy de-icing fluid during a journey from Dublin to Warsaw in February 2018.
Ryanair’s claim that crew member Fiona Nangle, 40, was the “creator of her own misfortune” because she failed to look out for de-icing fluid that passengers had trodden onto the jet as they boarded was denied by Judge Alexander Owens of the Irish High Court.
The judge also dismissed Ryanair’s contention that Ms. Nangle, as a cabin supervisor, should have been aware of the dangers of de-icing and, as a result, should have anticipated a potential slip hazard.
On February 11, 2018, Ms. Nangle was seated in the front row of a Boeing 737 airplane on what should have been a regular flight from Dublin to Warsaw. The plane’s wings had been de-iced due to the cold that morning, and part of the fluid had spilled down onto the ‘apron,’ where passengers go outside to board the plane.
Ms. Nangle got up from her jumpseat and walked into the galley to finish some paperwork shortly after takeoff after the pilots signaled it was safe for the crew to leave their seats.
She told the court that she slipped after stepping off a mat near the main cabin entrance and onto the vinyl galley floor. Ms. Nangle tried to grab something to keep from falling, but she “fell in a heap on the floor,” according to the Irish Times.
Ms. Nangle broke her right humerus, which necessitated surgery and rendered her immobile for several months.
On the flights, she worked on the morning of the catastrophe, as many as 450 passengers went past Ms. Nangle, according to Justice Owen. As a result, de-icing fluid may have gotten inside the cabin in large quantities.
Despite claims that Ms. Nangle should have been aware of the perils of de-icing fluid, the airline issued a circular to cabin crew the day after her accident, warning them about the risks of slipping.
Ms. Nangle’s attorneys claimed that she could have averted injury if Ryanair had sent the memo earlier.
