The Brazilian airline Gol was ordered to pay the equivalent of $1,739 to two women who were assaulted on a flight in Brazil for refusing to give up their seat to a child.
On February 2, 2023, two passengers of the Brazilian airline Gol were assaulted after refusing to give up their seat to a child. Each woman will receive compensation of $1,739.
The court ruled that they should receive the amount as moral damages. The two women, a mother and her daughter, were assaulted on a flight from the state of Bahia to São Paulo.
One of the women noticed a woman sitting with a disabled child on her lap in the seat she had reserved. The victim reportedly asked her to vacate the seat, and soon after, she began being verbally abused.
The insults escalated into physical assault, and the daughter of the woman intervened to defend her mother. Gol removed the involved passengers from the plane.
The judge in the case, Sérgio Castresi de Souza Castro, ruled that Gol was responsible for the moral damages.
“It was the responsibility of the parents/legal guardians and, perhaps, the airline itself, to ensure an appropriate seat, purchasing the desired seat, without violating the rights of a third party,” he said in his ruling.
Castro also stated that the airline’s negligence gave the impression that the victim was to blame for starting the fight. At the time, a video went viral showing the altercation.
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