The crew who were injured in turbulence: the reporting, the medical, the time off, the insurance and the compensation at the different carriers

Qantas international, five years, and the injured on duty thread on here says report it and why. The turbulence injury specifically (the galley thrown, the cart, the fall in the aisle) is the most common serious one and three of us (me at Qantas, a Virgin Heathrow colleague, an Emirates friend) compared what happened after. Here it is, because the crew who are injured do not know the process until they are in it.

The injury

Mine: a clear air turbulence event over the Pacific on the Dallas, the galley at the time, thrown against the counter, a cracked rib and a wrist. The Virgin colleague: a cart on the Caribbean in a descent through weather, a knee. The Emirates friend: the aisle on the Johannesburg, a fall, a back that is the Terry thread's back now. All three in the first ten years of flying, all three reported in flight, all three on the ground for months.

The reporting

In flight: the purser informed, the medical kit, the incident report started, the captain's log. On the ground: the airline's injury report, the medical at the airport or the hospital, the insurance notification, the regulator's reporting where the event qualifies. The crew who report in flight are the ones whose claim is clean; the one who reports the next day is the one with the argument. All three of us reported in flight and the processes started on the ground.

The medical and the time off

Qantas (the Australian workers' compensation system and the FAAA agreement): the medical covered, the time off paid under the compensation scheme at a rate that is not the full salary, the return to flying with the medical clearance, the physio covered. Months, not weeks, for the rib and the wrist. Virgin (the UK system and the Unite agreement): the sick pay under the agreement for the injury, the company's insurance, the return with the AME, the knee a year. Emirates (the UAE labour law and the airline's insurance): the medical covered by the airline's insurance, the salary during the injury leave under the policy, the return with the medical, the back the long one.

The compensation

The thing the crew do not know exists: the workers' compensation (Australia), the personal injury process (the UK, through the union's lawyers where the airline's insurance is the route), the labour law compensation (the UAE, through the airline's insurance). All three of us received something for the injury beyond the sick pay, through the process, and the Virgin colleague's was through the union's legal support and was the largest. The crew who do not know the process do not claim.

The return

The medical clearance, the recurrent if lapsed, the fear of the galley in turbulence (which is real and which the EAP addressed for all three of us), and the first flight back. The Emirates friend has not returned to the long haul and is on the ground role. The Virgin colleague and I are flying.

For the crew who are injured

Report in flight. Start the processes on the ground, all of them. Know the compensation exists and ask the union or the airline's HR for the route. Take the time the medical gives. And know that the galley in turbulence is where the injuries happen and the strap and the brace position are not optional when the seatbelt sign is on for the crew.