Eastern Airlines Pays $42,500 to Family of Woman Who Died Under Its Care

Eastern Airlines has agreed to pay $42,500 to the family of a 78-year-old woman who apparently was misplaced at an airport while under Eastern’s care and died of a heart attack.

The two daughters of Alberta May Hughes, 78, alleged in a lawsuit that when Hughes bought her plane ticket, Eastern agreed to attend to her and help her board and exit the plane.

But Hughes, of Lamoni, Iowa, was left unattended at Kansas City International Airport by Eastern attendants, her heart stopped and she died at a hospital, said the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in St. Joseph.

Eastern attorney John M. Lilla said the settlement was not an admission of guilt, and he asserted that the airline was not at fault.

“Everybody dies sometime,” he said.