by A hostess who was left unable to do her dream job after breaking her leg in seven places during a serious accident has won a six-figure payout. Eden Garrity, 31, was pushing a trolley when the Thomas Cook flight from Cuba to Manchester ran into a violent storm in the Atlantic.
The impact of the turbulence sent the flight 500 feet upwards, pinning Eden to the ground and tearing her ankle. Eden was unable to walk at all for two months after the incident and underwent numerous operations and intensive rehabilitation.
She was left with nerve damage, which makes it painful to stand up for long periods, meaning she cannot return to work as cabin crew. And while the payout has helped her financially, Eden says it doesn’t make up for her dream job again.
She said: “It left me bitter, I resent him. It’s just frustration. It was the best job in the world and I feel like I’ve lost a piece of my personality. You see people you’re friends with and they’re traveling in the skies and I’m not, I’m forever tired. I will never be able to fly to work again.
“I feel lost, I have a family and a son and it’s great, but I’m very limited in terms of what I can do. I miss making memories, seeing different countries. If it wasn’t for the accident I would be able to fly out here and it’s terrible.
“I’m grateful for the payout but it doesn’t bring back what I’ve lost. It helps in terms of getting my own property, but I’m 31 and I have the rest of my life ahead of me and I can’t do what I want to do.”
Eden, from Leigh, was left lying on the floor of the plane for an hour while seats were cleared after the turbulence hit the flight. She was laid across the back of the plane in pain and eventually rushed to hospital as soon as they landed in Manchester – seven hours later.
Doctors said the impact of the plane’s floor was ‘like a sledgehammer’ hitting his leg. She broke her fibula in five places, broke her tibia once, broke the side of her foot and split her ankle bone.
Eden needed surgery to insert screws and metal plates inside her leg, as well as a huge external metal brace, and was unable to walk for two months. The aircraft otherwise detoured around 100 miles to avoid bad weather while crossing the Atlantic in August 2019.
But Eden says she and other crew members were not made aware of the risk of turbulence during the trip, or during the pre-flight briefing. She said: “Usually if we’re going to have some disruption they’ll tell us before the flight and tell us what the plans are.
“For example, they might say ‘we’ll put seat belt signs on him’ or ‘we’re not going to let you go’. The doctor said it was like a sledgehammer hitting the bottom of my foot.
“Six passengers lifted me up and over to lay me across three seats at the back of the plane and the ambulance was waiting for me at the airport. I wasn’t one of those people who always knew what was going on wish they were when they grew up.
“I wasn’t very academic, and I wasn’t going to university, but when the opportunity to become an air hostess came my way, I felt like I had found my path in life. I loved it my job, and I knew it. I found my calling, so to speak.
“So due to injuries that were so severe that I could not return after the incident was completely heartbreaking. I suffered depression and was diagnosed with PTSD and anxiety.”
Describing the incident shortly after it happened in 2020, Eden said the pilot asked crew members to be seated five seconds before the plane hit the storm. But Eden did not have time to secure the charter and sit down before the great turmoil.
The 27-year-old was suddenly pinned to the ground. Eden said at the time: “We hit a huge hail storm. The pilot told me afterwards that it turned black around him. It was the worst turbulence I’ve ever experienced as a crew member or passenger.
“It was absolutely terrifying. The plane shot up 500 feet within seconds. The force of the turbulence pinned me to the ground and forced me towards the floor.
“My feet were locked to the ground and my ankle just completely collapsed. I didn’t realize what happened until I tried to take a step and collapsed. My ankle was at a right angle and I just started screaming. The bottom of my foot was facing the side.
“My body went into shock and I started to panic. Eden was on the floor for an hour and the seats around her were cleaned.
It was halfway through the flight when the ‘excruciating pain’ set in. She said: “The pain started when my shoes were taken off and I was put in a splint.”
Eden was rushed to Wythenshawe Hospital as soon as the Thomas Cook flight, from Cuba, landed in Manchester. The AAIB’s accident report file said the plane experienced “unexpected severe turbulence” that lasted 90 seconds.
“The aircraft encountered severe turbulence which resulted in autopilot disconnection and an altitude gain of 500 feet,” he said. “Accompanied by the sound of hailstones hitting the nose of the aircraft.”
Eden spent nine days in hospital.
Lawyers from Thompsons Solicitors argued that the crew should have been made aware of the bad weather on the flight and extra precautions should have been taken. Although Thomas Cook’s insurers denied responsibility for her injuries, Eden received an undisclosed six-figure compensation care package.
Injury law expert Neil Richards, who represented Eden, said: “The circumstances surrounding the incident in which Miss Garrity was injured should have been expected. The issue of flight safety is a recognized health and safety risk, particularly when working in certain geographic regions including the Caribbean.
“The turbulence is also a clear and serious risk to all those on board, and especially to airline staff who have to work in and around the cabin in such environments.”
Unite legal director Stephen Pinder said: “I am pleased with the outcome for our members and their families. Unite will be taking the lessons learned during this case back into our industrial work to help other airline staff who protection from similar incidents.”
