NC woman, Frontier settle suit over vomit-covered seats
When a mother and daughter boarded their plane in 2019, they were greeted with their seating area covered in vomit, authorities said.
An argument between the flight attendant and passenger over who should be responsible to clean the vomit ended with the woman filing a lawsuit against Frontier Airlines.
Almost three years later, the lawsuit was settled.
Rosetta Swinney, from Durham, North Carolina, filed a lawsuit in 2019 against Frontier Airlines after she and her 14-year-old daughter boarded a flight returning to Raleigh from Las Vegas, authorities said.
The woman’s attorney and Frontier Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment this week from McClatchy News.
On April 19, 2019, the family boarded their return flight home.
Once on board, Swinney said there was no room for her daughter to stow her carry-on bag under the seat in front of her so she attempted to place it into the overhead compartment, court documents obtained by McClatchy News show.
As she moved her bag into the compartment, the teen told her mother she “felt and smelled a liquid on her hands” and “believed she had a stranger’s vomit on her hands,” adding that the floor, seat pocket and seatback tray were covered in vomit, court documents state.
The mother notified a flight attendant who returned with Clorox wipes and gloves so the woman could clean their seats, stating “it was not her job” to clean. When Swinney refused to clean the area, the flight attendant reportedly told her she “was not flying on Flight 2066 ‘no matter what,’ “according to authorities.
After the mother decided to move to two empty seats, a Frontier employee asked the family to leave, court documents state.
Swinney objected to leaving several times until officers asked all the other passengers to get off the plane “because of one rude passenger” over the plane’s intercom, authorities said.
After the woman finally deboarded, court documents state she was handcuffed and arrested for trespassing, and her daughter was temporarily placed in the custody of Nevada’s Child Protective Services.
Court documents included a statement issued by Frontier Airlines days following the incident stating that “flight attendants apologized and immediately invited the mother and her teenage daughter to move to either end of the plane so that the seat area could be cleaned.”
Frontier’s statement said “the mother was unsatisfied with the response and became disruptive” and that as a result, “flight attendants determined that the mother and daughter should be deplaned and accommodated on another flight.”
Swinney said her family “suffered severe mental anguish and emotional distress” and that their reputations have been “sullied” following the incident, according to court documents.
The woman filed a complaint on Aug. 8, 2019, asking over $55 million in damages, court documents show.
The woman sued the airline for defamation, negligence, gross negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
In January 2022, the airline and family reached a settlement, court documents show, but did not specify in what amount.