[kall]

Originally Posted by The Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand Sept. 6, 2004 — Air New Zealand on Monday welcomed a U.S. court ruling as vindication of its in-flight education program about the dangers of deep vein thrombosis and ways to minimize the risk of suffering the potentially deadly condition.

Glen Sowry, the national flag carrier's spokesman, commented after the Federal Appeals Court in San Francisco ruled over the weekend that Air New Zealand was not responsible for a clot suffered by one of its passengers, Adriene Rodriguez.

Rodriguez collapsed after her 12-hour flight to Auckland from Los Angeles in 2000. When she regained consciousness, she could not speak or control her right arm, but recovered after hospital treatment and flew to Australia.

Rodriguez sued the airline, claiming it had not done enough to warn passengers over the dangers of deep vein thrombosis, also known as DVT. Further details of her case and the court's ruling were not immediately available.

Sowry said the airline had been advising customers about DVT for years in a program that began long before Rodriguez flew to New Zealand.

The program includes a preflight video urging travelers to exercise during their journey and further advice in the airline's in-flight magazine.

"It is something we have certainly been encouraging customers to do for many, many years," Sowry said.

Aww. Didn't see the Instructional Video? Decide to sue for something that is actually your fault? Bummer.