Three Alaska Airlines Passengers Suing Airline & Boeing For $1 Billion Following Mid-Flight Door Blowout

Several of the traumatized passengers on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 are now suing the airline and Boeing for a staggering $1 billion. 

Passengers Kyle Rinker, Amanda Strickland and Kevin Kwok were present on the terrifying January 5th flight when a door on the aircraft blew out midflight. The plane was traveling from Portland, Oregon, to Ontario, California, when the door blew out at 16,000 feet. Thankfully, all passengers survived the blowout, though Rinker, Strickland, and Kwok now say that the mental anguish remains. 

The passengers said in their suit that each had “suffered severe mental, emotional, and psychological injuries, including post-traumatic stress and physical injuries.” In the court docs, which PEOPLE obtained, they wrote that these lasting effects of the ordeal are a “direct result of the frightful, death-threatening failure of the Boeing aircraft.” Additionally, the claimants stated that the sudden pressure change in the cabin led to ear bleeds. 

After the fallout from the blown-out door, Alaska Airlines offered full refunds to each passenger of Flight 1282. Additionally, they gave them $1,500 cash payments to cover any unexpected accommodations they needed to make following the emergency landing. However, the attorneys representing Rinker, Strickland, and Kwok do not believe this is enough. Instead, Jonathan W. Johnson, LLC is looking to “hold Boeing accountable for its negligence, which had caused extreme panic, fear, and post-traumatic stress.”

Alaska Airlines planes were grounded following the blowout and returned to the skies in late January after the FAA cleared them.