[imagesource:onemileatatime]

A “gentleman of advanced age” is suing Israeli airline El Al after he got stuck in a business-class seat on a flight from Tel Aviv to New York.

Eshagh Wiseman claims he was injured after the air hostess had to dislodge him from his seat on the flight in October 2022.

According to the lawsuit, the elderly traveller became stuck in the seat as it was being reclined and then a flight attendant had to “forcibly” free him.

The Independent reports that the flight attendant “had to pull him free” from the seat, an experience that Mr Wiseman claims caused “great pain, agony and mental anguish” because the cabin crew “failed to explain to him how the seat operates”.

Is it just me or does that sound rather childish for a “gentleman of advanced age”, as the lawsuit describes him?

The “great pain, agony and mental anguish” caused him to seek medical treatment for his injuries:

“Lawyers acting on behalf of Wiseman are bringing the lawsuit under the Montreal Convention, which holds airlines responsible for passenger injuries unless they can prove the injury was the result of the passenger’s own negligence,” reads the lawsuit.

While business-class seats are increasingly more complex these days, with several motorised functions that can be complicated to use, especially if you didn’t grow up with tech, it is difficult to imagine how someone got stuck in a seat like this:

Image: onemileatatime

There are certainly more questions than answers.

Then again, it is not unusual for passengers to make a nice buck by initiating legal action against an airline for seemingly petty reasons.

In 2020, a woman took legal action against Spirit Airlines after a bad odour on one of its flights caused her “serious and permanent injuries”, while in 2016, an 81-year-old retired lawyer initiated legal action against El Al after staff made her switch seats because an orthodox Jewish man refused to sit next to her.

[source:independent]