[Kevin]

I'm with Munchkin here. I don't think the PR is going to be that big a deal. Most people are fine with the fact that people aren't getting a windfall of money when they're just lucky to be alive. Especially since the airline was not only not negligent, it went above and beyond in making sure everyone survived.

You can talk about what could have happened, but none of that stuff did happen. The airline should only be liable to an extent for what did happen.

From a legal standpoint, I'm sure there's a nice little body of law on common carriers such as airlines and what sort of duty to pay they have with regard to these situations. They should pay whatever their liability at law is and not a penny more.