Delta Passenger Left With Cartilage Damage After Child On Flight Kicks Her Repeatedly, Crew Refuses To Help

A Delta Air Lines passenger has claimed that she was left with cartilage damage on her ribs after a child sitting next to her repeatedly kicked her during a recent flight. To make matters worse, the woman said that the Delta cabin crew refused to let her change seats — and even accused her of being the one causing trouble.

Sally Canario, a mother of three, boarded an overnight Delta flight from Los Angeles to Minneapolis on April 2. Canario told The Sun that she was seated in the window seat, with a mother and a little girl beside her. When the violent incident occurred, the child had reportedly laid down her head in her mother’s lap and placed her feet near Canario.

“I was up against the window, trying to get some sleep on a red eye flight,” the Delta passenger told The Sun.

“A stranger’s daughter was trying to sleep on the plane with her head in her mother’s lap and her feet in my face, in my side, and on my lap. The girl threw a bad tantrum — screaming, crying, and bicycle kicking while she was trying to sleep, [but] the airline would not accommodate me for a safer, comparable seat.”

Sally Canario said that the repeated kicking from the child on the Delta flight left her with some cartilage damage.

“I am hurting on my chest from my sternum to my right rib cage.”

“It is visible asymmetry of my rib cage. My doctor assured me cartilage will heal but be painful for the next week,” she claimed.

Canario also said that during the flight, she asked a Delta flight attendant if she could transfer to another seat, but was allegedly told that he could not assist her.

“I flagged down a flight attendant to file an injury report,” she said.

“His response was, ‘I am not a babysitter, you two parties need to work things out. This is a full flight. I do not take injury reports… you aren’t injured.”

The flight attendant also allegedly accused Sally of being the one harassing the child and her mother.

“‘I heard you were causing trouble and harassing the family next to you,'” she claimed the Delta cabin crew told her.

According to Canario, this was completely untrue and the mother of the child who had been kicking her assured the Delta flight attendants that she wasn’t being harassed by Sally.

Despite her injury and the stressful experience, Canario said that she doesn’t blame the family seated next to her on the flight. Instead, she told The Sun, the problem lies with Delta Air Lines’ seating policies.

Delta passenger suffered 'painful' cartilage damage after child on flight repeatedly kicked her, she claims https://t.co/NFM6j0lNxM

— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 8, 2018

Amazingly, the child’s mother confided later in the flight that her husband was seated elsewhere on the plane. Sally Canario told the outlet that had she known about this, she would have happily switched seats with him instead of suffering through her seatmate’s tantrum.

“[T]he mother explained to me that her husband bought discount tickets for spring break where Delta does not allow seat selection 24-hours prior to boarding,” she said.

“Why don’t they sit families together? Had I known her husband was on the flight, I would have gladly traded with him and spared myself this painful injury and hellish nightmare.”

In a statement to Fox News, a Delta Air Lines representative said that they are currently looking into the alleged incident.

“We regret to learn of the experience and discomfort described by this customer on a recent flight. We are in direct contact with this customer while we gather more information about the situation.”

The Sun reports that a Delta employee has been in contact with Canario to apologize for the incident. The airline has also reportedly assured her that her claim will be forwarded to their insurer. In addition, Delta has confirmed that they will be reviewing their seating options for families.