It now seems that one Qantas passengers has been left deaf after sitting next to a screaming child on a passenger plane. This is like a passenger’s worse fear come true, because everyone hates sitting next to screaming kids on planes.

United States tourist Jean Barnard had just recently embarked on her dream holiday to Australia and New Zealand. Her trip allegedly became a nightmare when she boarded a Darwin-bound Qantas plane in Alice Springs. Here she was assigned a seat that was next to a three-year-old boy across the aisle.

The boy had allegedly leaned back over his armrest toward Ms Barnard and let out a scream so severe that blood started to erupt from her ears. This left her stone cold deaf. No other passengers where injured from the boy’s very loud yell.

Ms Barnard had to be helped off the plane and taken to the Alice Springs hospital. This, of course, ruined her trip that started in Brisbane. Ms Barnard said that the pain was so excruciating that she did not even know that she was deaf at first.

Ms Barnard has been locked in a legal tussle with Qantas for more than a year now. This 67-year-old is claiming she suffered severe and permanent injuries due to the event. This does include sudden hearing loss from the child’s scream. She is seeking damages for physical and mental suffering. She is also looking for the airline to cover expenses and loss of impairment of earning capacity.

Qantas’ United States legal team is vigorously fighting the case. They say that flight attendants cannot predict when children on the flight will start to scream. There is no deviance that the child was screaming in the terminal or on board the plane.