DO AIRLINE INSURANCE COVER TRAUMA?

DO AIRLINE INSURANCE COVER TRAUMA? Ikechukwu Odoemelam Esq A few days ago one of my learned friends that attended the Bi-Annual Bar Conference held in Lagos, escaped death when their aircraft accidentally developed malfunctions and later figured out a safe landing. After thanking God for the rare escape, it quickly reminded me of similar incident that I went through in one of Nigeria Airways flight in the '90s. A Lagos-bound flight that took off from Port Harcourt airport began to loose height gradually. When the pilot made the announcement it wasn't quite audible so I couldn't comprehend what the issue was. Passengers close to the cockpit were talking to each other. I was busy reading one of the in-flight magazines and wasn't perturbed. When I saw that a lot of passengers were talking to each other I looked out from the window and saw that we were cruising past towns, houses airview. Even at that time it never occurred to me that that was the aircraft's inability to gain height, a symptom of crashing. Shortly another announcement was audibly saying about to land at Port Harcourt airport where we took off. In few minutes we landed safely and there was this mad rush by passengers as if the aircraft was catching fire. Now at Port Harcourt airport what next? Don't talk about refund of ticket fare; I was so restive that I couldn't ask what rights I had over ticket fare. The following day was census day in Lagos, if I could not fly into Lagos before the next day I wouldn't have been counted. Flight shortage became real because of failed/postponed flights and safety regulations. Hustling and struggling for next available flight ensued. By this time we've spent hours after our aborted flight and it's already evening and passengers were sorting out how to spend the night. Suddenly a small contractor flight came from Lagos as last flight. I didn't know how he got the hint that Lagos-bound passengers were stranded since afternoon. The pilot decided that any passenger willing to get to Lagos that night should get on board. That's how I got the noisy flight without any light with about seven passengers. Knocking at a Lagos gate leading to residential area about midnight could only be by a desperate individual who narrowly escaped death through two rickety aircrafts. I never thought about remedies because dead men don't have the luxury of what is available for the living. Today my friend's encounter reminded me to ask, all these hassles from airlines do their insurance coverage include physical/psychological trauma? I made few searches and found that none of the insurers offer such cover. However, Arik insurance came close to answering my inquiry, not sure 'medical expenses' includes trauma. But the detailed finding is as follows: "The policy provides cover against accident resulting in damage to baggage, missing bags, flight cancellation and delays, medical expenses, permanent disablement or bodily injury, within 90 days of the occurrence of the accident. A passenger whose flight is cancelled or delayed for more than eight hours gets N20,000 per trip. Emergency medical expenses attracts up to N50,000, while mishandled and missing baggage will attract N20,000 per passenger." Please if there's any airline's passengers insurance coverage that's richer than Arik's DM such updates. Safe journey God is in control. Ikechukwu O. Odoemelam Esq Legal Practitioner Corporate Attorney/Consultant http://www.corporateleadersboard.blogspot.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/iyke-ozemena-07b53453 http://www.amazon.com/author/iykeOzemena