An Irish court has approved a settlement between Ryanair and the family of a young child who suffered scald injuries from a hot beverage on a flight from Reus in Spain to Dublin. The case, which has drawn attention to onboard safety standards and first aid preparedness, centers on an incident in June 2022 in which an 18‑month‑old boy was allegedly burned by a cup of very hot coffee while flying with the low cost carrier. The settlement, valued at 15,500 euro, was approved this week in the Circuit Civil Court in Dublin, offering closure for the family but raising broader questions about how airlines handle hot drinks and medical emergencies at 30,000 feet.

The Incident on the Reus to Dublin Flight

The case stems from a Ryanair service operating between Reus, a popular holiday gateway on Spain’s Costa Daurada, and Dublin in late June 2022. According to evidence presented in court, the 18‑month‑old child was asleep on his mother’s lap roughly half an hour into the two hour flight when a cup of coffee, described as very hot, spilled over his arm, torso and leg. The drink had reportedly been placed on the tray table of an empty adjacent seat, a common practice on busy leisure routes when families spread out belongings around them.

Lawyers for the boy, now aged five, told the court that the coffee cup toppled from the tray and cascaded onto the sleeping toddler, leaving him in immediate and intense pain. Witness accounts given in the legal filings described the infant screaming as his parents tried frantically to cool the burns in the confined space of the cabin. The remainder of the flight, estimated at around 90 minutes, was spent managing his distress and improvising basic treatment while still in the air.

On landing in Dublin, emergency personnel were called to meet the aircraft on the tarmac. Paramedics provided initial care before the child was transferred to a specialist children’s hospital in Dublin, where dressings were applied and the extent of blistering was assessed. Medical reports later submitted to the court indicated that although the scalds were significant and deeply distressing, the boy ultimately escaped permanent scarring, a factor that influenced the level of damages agreed.

Allegations of Inadequate First Aid Response

One of the most striking aspects of the case concerned the family’s allegations about the lack of appropriate first aid equipment on board. In the course of the proceedings, it was claimed that the parents were forced to use items of their own clothing and bottled water to cool and cover the child’s burns because a suitable first aid kit was not readily available. For a young child suffering fresh scalds, rapid cooling of the affected area is critical to limiting the severity of injury, and the family’s legal team argued that the absence of proper supplies compounded the ordeal.

The court heard that cabin crew did what they could in the moment, but the parents maintained that the airline had failed in its duty of care by not equipping the aircraft with adequate burn treatment materials. In modern aviation, first aid kits are required under regulation, but the content and quality of those kits can vary and are often focused on minor injuries, cuts or basic medications rather than more serious trauma. The family’s experience, as set out in legal documents, suggests that burns from hot liquids remain a grey area in both equipment planning and crew training.

While Ryanair did not admit liability as part of the settlement, the allegations regarding first aid provision will resonate with safety advocates who have long argued for clearer standards on medical preparedness on short haul flights. For passengers, the idea that parents must tear up T‑shirts and pour bottled water over a child’s burns may underline how reliant travellers still are on improvisation in the air, even in 2026.

The Court’s Decision and the 15,500 Euro Settlement

The case came before Judge James O’Donohoe in Ireland’s Circuit Civil Court, where a settlement offer of 15,500 euro, plus legal costs, was submitted for approval. Under Irish law, settlements involving minors require judicial oversight to ensure that the sum is fair and proportionate to the injuries and long term impact. The child’s father, acting as his next friend, had brought the action on his behalf against the airline, setting out the alleged negligence in how the drink was served and how the aftermath was handled.

In court, counsel for the boy indicated that they believed the claim had strong prospects of success should it proceed to a full trial. However, they noted that Ryanair had raised suggestions of contributory negligence, an argument that can sometimes reduce damages where more than one party is considered to have played a role in an accident. Balancing these considerations, the legal team recommended accepting the negotiated settlement rather than subjecting the family to a protracted dispute.

Judge O’Donohoe approved the offer, describing the figure as about right in the circumstances, especially given the absence of lasting scarring or functional impairment. The compensation will be held in court until the child reaches adulthood, in line with the usual practice for awards to minors in Ireland. For Ryanair, the agreement brings this particular claim to an end without a formal finding of negligence, though the details aired in court are likely to remain in the public conversation around airline safety standards.

Hot Drinks, Air Travel and a Pattern of Scald Claims

The Reus to Dublin settlement is not an isolated case. Irish courts in recent years have seen a series of claims involving passengers scalded by hot beverages on aircraft, several of them related to Ryanair flights on European routes. In one judgment last year, a woman was awarded substantial damages after she was burned when a cup of tea spilled from what was alleged to be a defective or slanted tray table. In another, a male passenger reached a settlement having claimed he suffered burns to his groin area from spilled tea served in flight.

These cases share common themes: very hot liquids, limited space, turbulence or movement in the cabin, and equipment such as tray tables that may be loose, slanted or otherwise unstable. The confined environment of an aircraft makes it challenging for passengers to react quickly if a drink tilts or a cup slides, especially when they are holding children or contending with hand luggage and seatbelts. Even a brief contact with a near boiling liquid can cause second degree burns, and medical experts frequently highlight that drink temperatures on board should be carefully controlled to reduce this risk.

For airlines like Ryanair, which operates one of Europe’s largest short haul networks connecting Ireland and Spain with the rest of the continent, these incidents also have a reputational cost. Each successful claim, especially those involving children, keeps the issue in the news and invites scrutiny of how hot beverages are prepared, carried and served in the cabin. As more passengers share stories of burns or near misses on social media and in online forums, the pressure grows on carriers to demonstrate that lessons are being learned.

The settlement approved in Dublin sits within a broader framework of aviation and consumer law that governs injuries sustained during international air travel. For flights such as Reus to Dublin, which link two European Union member states and are operated by an EU airline, the Montreal Convention and various regional rules influence how liability is assessed and how compensation is calculated. Airlines are generally responsible for injuries that occur on board or during the process of boarding and disembarking, but disputes frequently hinge on questions of negligence and causation.

In cases involving hot beverages, claimants typically argue that the airline or its staff failed to take reasonable care when serving drinks, whether by placing cups on unstable surfaces, overfilling containers, using lids that are not properly secured, or situating hot liquids too close to children. Defendants, for their part, sometimes point to passenger movements, unexpected turbulence or the inherent risks of handling hot drinks to argue that they should not bear full responsibility. Suggestions of contributory negligence, as mentioned in the Reus Dublin case, can arise where a passenger is alleged to have caused or worsened the spill through their own actions.

Court decisions in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe indicate that judges are often sympathetic to passengers who suffer serious burns, especially when injuries occur in circumstances that seem preventable. At the same time, not every incident results in high damages. Factors such as the degree of scarring, the duration of pain, psychological impact and long term consequences are weighed carefully in assessing compensation. For families holidaying between Spain and Ireland, where many routes are served by budget carriers with tight turnaround times, these legal protections provide an important backstop when things go wrong.

Implications for Safety Standards Between Ireland and Spain

The Reus Dublin incident and settlement highlight particular concerns on routes between Ireland and Spain, where seasonal demand, family travel and leisure oriented passenger profiles are highly concentrated. Such flights often carry many young children, parents juggling bags and strollers, and groups sharing seats. This environment increases the likelihood that hot drinks will be placed on nearby tray tables, armrests or seatbacks to free up hands, creating more potential points of failure.

For airlines, one of the clearest implications is the need to review internal policies on serving hot beverages when very young children are nearby. That could include better guidance for crew about where to place drinks, more active warnings to parents about the risks, or alternative service options such as cooler drinks for adults holding infants. Considering the growing body of case law, carriers may also be prompted to reassess the design and maintenance of tray tables, cup holders and lids, aiming to minimise spillage even in mild turbulence.

Airport authorities in both Ireland and Spain may take an interest as well, given their role in overseeing safety standards and passenger welfare across the full journey. While hot drink incidents occur in the cabin, responses are coordinated with ground based emergency teams who meet aircraft on arrival. Coordinated protocols between airports and airlines for handling burns, ensuring rapid access to medical care and documenting incidents could help standardise best practice on busy routes connecting cities such as Dublin, Barcelona and nearby holiday hubs like Reus.

First Aid Preparedness and Training in the Cabin

Perhaps the most uncomfortable question raised by the Reus Dublin settlement is whether airlines operating between Ireland and Spain are fully prepared to handle painful but foreseeable injuries such as scalds. The allegation that the child’s parents had to rely on clothing and bottled water due to an absence of appropriate first aid supplies suggests a gap between regulatory requirements and real world readiness. Even where standard kits are present, crew must know how to access them quickly, what items can safely be used on burns and how to manage a frightened child in a crowded aisle.

Aviation safety experts have long argued that airlines should treat burns from hot liquids as a distinct risk category, not simply as generic minor injuries. That view is strengthened when multiple incidents, across different flights and years, reveal similar patterns of scalding from tea or coffee. Enhanced training modules focusing specifically on burn management, including safe cooling techniques and clear communication with distressed parents, could reduce both the medical impact of such incidents and the likelihood of later legal claims.

For travellers reading about this latest settlement, the takeaway may be sobering but practical. Parents might think twice before accepting a very hot drink when an infant is on their lap, or ask crew to place such beverages out of immediate reach, even if that means waiting longer to enjoy a coffee after takeoff. Airlines, for their part, face a choice: either continue to treat these events as isolated accidents, resolved quietly through settlements, or address them as a systemic safety issue that warrants changes in how hot drinks are prepared, served and managed in the cabin.

What This Means for Future Passengers

The approval of the 15,500 euro settlement for the child injured on the Reus to Dublin flight serves as a reminder that aviation safety is not limited to dramatic emergencies. Everyday aspects of the inflight experience, including something as ordinary as a cup of coffee, can carry serious risks when combined with cramped seating and airborne movement. For families traveling between Ireland and Spain, and indeed across Europe, the case underscores the importance of awareness, careful service procedures and robust first aid support.

Ryanair, as one of the dominant carriers linking the two countries, now faces renewed pressure to demonstrate that it has learned lessons from this and other hot drink incidents. Whether through internal policy changes, equipment upgrades or training enhancements, the company has an opportunity to show that low fares need not come at the expense of basic safety precautions for its youngest passengers. Other airlines operating similar routes will be watching closely, aware that courts and regulators are paying attention to how carriers manage foreseeable in cabin hazards.

For TheTraveler.org’s readers, particularly those planning family trips that include budget flights between Ireland and Spanish sun resorts, this case is a prompt to think proactively about safety long before boarding. Asking where a hot drink will be placed, checking that children are out of harm’s way and understanding that first aid resources in the air may be limited can all play a part in making holiday journeys safer. While legal settlements can provide financial redress after an accident, preventing such incidents altogether remains the goal that airlines, regulators and passengers should share.