Air Port delay.. who should pay?

macdingolinger, I am sorry for your relative's plight which had caused them to cancel their holiday trip. However, I am sorry to say that they do not qualify for any compensation from the airlines or airport management as their plight was actually caused by the quarreling couple's baby carrier which was strewn into your aunt's path. Also, the airport authorities cannot really step in to stop a domestic tiff as these conflicts are really shortlived and trivial. Besides, the couple weren't posing any major life threatening threats that warrant the airport security's intervention. As for the airlines, the most they can do is probably to give your relatives a full refund without any penalty or admin charges. But not before they attached a letter seeking for an understanding of their circumstances which led to them abandoning their trip and for the airlines to accept and approve. I am sorry for being direct here, but your relatives' pulling out is one which is deemed voluntary cancellation and as such airlines have the right to charge whatever penalty fees for this with the additional clause of "no show" being that it is so last minute before the flight departure. Also, if they are traveling on special discounted fares, there may be a possibility that the refunds will be very little left or none at all considering the conditions attached to the fare they had bought. Now, all is not lost as there is still some hope of getting your money back via their purchased travel insurance where they can make a claim and be compensated accordingly under trip cancellation and accident. I do not know if your relatives' know the errant couple or have their contact details where they can decide to file a civil lawsuit against them for causing your aunt's fall and injury as a result. Otherwise, there will be no further compensation other than from their travel and medical insurance. Just give the relevant insurance agencies a call and I am sure you will be advised. Again, I am sorry for what had happened here and I am sympathetic to your aunt's suffering but there's really not much you can do further here. I hope that your aunt will get well soon.

The Traveler's Insurance should be the one to pay for the damages or injuries but I don't think most people know about that. If they had bought some type of insurance such as that, they could easily get medical bills reimbursed and the plane tickets refunded as well. Further, since all of the accident happened in the airport, the airport should have at least have given them something for the injuries.

I think that out of being fair to its passengers the airline should give your aunt and uncle tickets and reservations for the destination they were meant to go. They could go to any airport in Turkey. The airline security are meant to be making sure all luggage is safe to go on the plane. I think they should have called the police stationed at the airport. The security staff sound useless. The lady was irresponsible and the man wasn't overly caring about your aunt's leg. I wonder if there would be a recording of this that the airport can get there hands on. They should get some kind of settlement. Good luck to your aunt and uncle. I will be interested to hear what sort of compensation they get.

I agree management should have controlled the environment. If the woman was as extreme to toss the car seat, what if the arguement would have elevated and one of them pulled a out a weapon? Would management then thought it worthy to step in?