Delta Air Lines (DAL) said it would pay passengers onboard the Minneapolis-to-Toronto flight that crash-landed $30,000 a piece, with no strings attached.
The number of passengers who took up Delta on the offer is currently unknown.
As of Thursday morning, all 21 passengers who were taken to the hospital following the Feb. 17 crash of Delta Flight 4819 have now been discharged, per Delta’s website. None of the 76 passengers on the plane were killed in the crash.
The payment offer to passengers — which would amount to $2.3 million if all passengers take the deal — does not preclude passengers from bringing lawsuits against Delta for the incident. The Delta offer is pursuant to international treaties (the Warsaw Convention and Montreal Convention) governing flights and incidents concerning injuries and deaths to passengers since this fight originated in the US and was bound for Canada. As noted by the New York Times, airlines are required to make advance payments to customers “to meet the immediate economic needs” of the passengers.
In the event of injury or death, passengers must be paid at least 16,000 Special Drawing Rights (equivalent to $20,000), which is an advance against the carrier’s ultimate liability, per Delta’s website. The treaties state that carriers are not able to limit liability where damages do not exceed 151,880 Special Drawing Rights, or slightly under $200,000.
Delta CEO Ed Bastian confirmed in an interview with CBS News that the crew of the Endeavor-operated flight (a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta) was an “experienced crew” that performed “heroically” during the incident.
As of Thursday morning, investigators have not revealed any new information on what may have caused the CRJ-900 jet’s crash. Video captured appears to show the plane landing hard on the snow-covered runway, which then led to the jet bouncing and flipping over, coming to a halt with its belly up.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is leading the investigation of the crash, and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is assisting.
