A civil servant from Jiangsu Province was in court yesterday to sue US-based Northwest Airlines over a cup of hot water that was spilled on her lap more than five years ago.

Yang Ping originally sued the airline in Hawaii, but walked away from the case when a missionary stepped forward to testify against her. She says the missionary was lying.

Yang is demanding Northwest run a public apology in five newspapers and pay her US$1 for mental anguish. The airline has already paid her US$13,000, but refused to apologize.

Yang was on a flight from Hawaii to Shanghai, via Tokyo, on August 4, 1999, when a cup of hot water fell from her seat table and scalded her stomach.

"The flight attendant made a mistake - she didn't put the cup in the dent on the table," said Zhao Junlian, Yang's lawyer.

Northwest told the court yesterday that the cup fell when the plane hit turbulence.

The captain took Yang to the first-class cabin, but there wasn't any medicine on the plane to treat her burn, the court heard.

"I had to endure panic for six hours on the plane and couldn't go to the toilet. But I didn't blame the aircrew. What enraged me was the arrogance and the discrimination two Japanese employees of Northwest showed when I asked for emergency treatment in the Tokyo airport," Yang said.

When the flight landed in Tokyo, two Japanese employees of Northwest picked up Yang and accompanied her to the airport clinic. Yang was told she must pay US$200 before receiving treatment in the clinic. She said she didn't have any money with her at the time, so she couldn't receive treatment.

"The Northwest staffers refused to pay the money for me. One woman just left and another escorted me out again," Yang told the court.

A Japanese missionary was scheduled to testify in the Hawaii suit, before Yang pulled the plug on it. He said he saw Yang overturn the cup of hot water herself, because she wanted the flight attendant to fill it with beer.

Northwest's lawyer pointed out in court that Yang has yet to provide any information to prove the missionary was lying.

(Shanghai Daily December 29, 2005)