A Fort Lauderdale hotel used by Southwest Airlines for flight attendant work layover is suing the carrier for more than $215,000 in damages after a crew member allegedly caused extensive water damage to the property when the sprinkler system was activated.
According to a lawsuit filed against Southwest by the Renaissance Hotel, located on 17th Street, Fort Lauderdale, the female flight attendant allegedly “negligently interfered” with the fire sprinkler system in her hotel room during a layover.
The sprinkler system was activated, not only in the crew member’s room, but also in multiple other hotel rooms. The flight attendant is a named defendant in the case, but the lawsuit argues that Southwest is liable for the negligent acts of its employees.
The incident occurred on February 1, 2025, leading to the hotel having to cancel reservations across multiple rooms while it called in restoration experts to dry out, sanitize, and deodorize the affected rooms.
Along with a number of hotel rooms, the sprinkler system also flooded some communal areas of the hotel, the front desk area, and several office rooms.
In total, the hotel was charged $215,576 to repair the damage from the flood.
In its lawsuit, the hotel says it has retained an independent fire sprinkler expert who will testify that the sprinkler system didn’t malfunction and was activated due to the negligent actions of the flight attendant.
The hotel originally filed its suit in a local court, but Southwest has since moved to have it transferred to a Florida district court due to the sums involved in the claim.
Southwest Airlines has filed some paperwork in the Fort Lauderdale district court but redacted its own internal report into the incident, as well as a statement written by the flight attendant.
The carrier is yet to formally respond to the lawsuit.
In 2023, a Southwest Airlines flight attendant was arrested on suspicion of attacking hotel guests and firefighters with a toilet plunger during a late-night rampage at a crew layover hotel in Des Moines, Iowa.
The crew member was also accused of tripping fire alarms around the hotel and of partially flooding the hotel by breaking a sprinkler system nozzle in one of the maintenance rooms.
A number of guests reported that the crew member had been “chasing people” around the hotel with a toilet plunger. One victim said she had been evacuating the hotel via the stairwell after the fire alarm went off when she came across the flight attendant on the 18th floor.
The suspect is alleged to have chased after the victim while holding the plunger, shouting: “I’m going to f**king get you”. The victim managed to escape uninjured, according to a police report.
The crew member was later charged with disorderly conduct, criminal mischief and assault while displaying a dangerous weapon.
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Mateusz Maszczynski honed his skills as an international flight attendant at the most prominent airline in the Middle East and has been flying ever since… most recently for a well known European airline. Matt is passionate about the aviation industry and has become an expert in passenger experience and human-centric stories. Always keeping an ear close to the ground, Matt’s industry insights, analysis and news coverage is frequently relied upon by some of the biggest names in journalism.