I am suprised it has taken this long for the first case to be filed. I am not in favour of the compensation and sueing culture that the US has and that we are fast catching up on here in the UK, however I think she has a strong case against the airlines.
Fact: Aircraft have been hijacked, often with fatal results many
times in the past.
Fact: The Hijackers need to gain access to the flightdeck to have
any real chance of success. Certainly to fly into a building it
is a requirement to have control of the aircraft.
Fact: Apart from a weak door lock, which outside of the US was
often left unlocked anyway, the airlines, pre Sept 11th have
done nothing to make airline flightdecks secure.
I am not saying that my view on flightdeck security was any different from anyone elses before all this happened but I don't think the courts will look at it that way. I think a good lawyer could prove very easily that the airlines did not take a known threat seriously.