 When they do their schedules, sometimes the flight attendants or the pilots wind up timing out because they've been on duty too long. And that's something she says it can have a cost for airlines. It becomes a labor cost. As for the cost of the lawsuits from turbulence, in the short run, airlines often have insurance to protect them. And the National Transportation Safety Board says passengers and crew already suffered 185 serious injuries on 162 global flights between 2009 and 2023.