An Australian man is suing American Airlines for $100,000 after he claims a 14-hour flight left him permanently injured.
The issue? Michael Anthony Taylor, 67, says he was seated next to two obese passengers on a 14-hour flight from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles, California. Although he asked, the airline said the 310-passenger 777 was completely full and refused to change his seat. Taylor says he was subsequently forced to spend much of the flight, ""crouching, kneeling, bracing or standing."
Seated in the window seat, Taylor said the encroachment of the passengers next to him triggered a flare up of his scoliosis and caused permanent injuries to his lower and upper back, as well as bruising of his neck.
In a statement to the NY Post, the airline said, ""We just received the lawsuit and we are reviewing the allegations."
There is no word as to why the man has waited nearly 17 months to file the action, as the flight in question took off on December 28, 2015.
According to the Post article, Taylor's attorney believes that if this suit is successful, it could lead the way to more comfortable airline seating.
[READMORE]READ MORE: American Cutting Legroom in Economy[/READMORE]
"If Michael is successful, this throws open the doors to potentially a large amount of cases against airlines and how they've designed their seating and how they seat passengers," said Thomas Janson, Taylor's attorney. "There will be a huge outcry against the way airlines furnish their cabins, particularly in economy."
Taylor says he bears no ill will towards the passengers seated next to him. "...they'd paid for a ticket too," he said. "The airline could have put me in a crew seat or moved people around but they did nothing."
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