Pop Star Says Singapore Airlines Satay Left A 1.5-Inch Wood Shard In Her Throat—Now She Can’t Sing

A former Thai pop star who now works as a yoga instructor is suing Singapore Airlines, claiming that its signature business class satay sent a jagged piece of wooden skewer into her throat and damaged her vocal cords. Briohny Smyth was traveling on Singapore Airlines flight 36 from Singapore to Los Angeles on July 28, 2024. According to her federal complaint, she was served chicken satay on a sharp wooden skewer as part of her business class meal. She says that, A jagged splinter broke from the skewer and she unknowingly swallowed it. It became lodged in her throat, causing immediate pain, violent coughing, choking sensations and respiratory distress. She experienced substantial pain and distress while trying to dislodge it during the flight. She ultimately expelled a wooden shard approximately 1.5 inches long. Smyth says she experienced persistent throat discomfort, vocal fatigue, raspiness, tightness and pain when speaking or singing for extended periods. An ear, nose and throat specialist identified scarring and trauma to her vocal cords. The suit seeks past and future medical expenses, lost earnings and damages for pain and emotional distress associated with bodily injury, and compensation for loss of enjoyment of life. This Came Just After Her Return To The Stage Smyth was an Australian-born Thai pop singer with several albums beginning in the late 1990s. She later left professional singing and became a yoga and wellness influencer. On July 14, 2024, two weeks before the Singapore Airlines flight, she posted about returning to the stage. She wrote that she had stopped singing professionally in 2004, though “the performer in me stayed.” Don’t Let This Lawsuit Stop Singapore From Serving Satay Satay is part of the carrier’s signature premium cabin service, generally presented before the appetizer with onions, cucumber and peanut sauce. I’ve written about eating it in Singapore Airlines business class. Airline caterers have produced some remarkable foreign object stories no matter what the dish is. A Delta passenger said she bit into a pebble hidden in eggplant dip and “obliterated” a tooth. Needles were once discovered in Delta sandwiches. A United passenger found thick plastic mixed into his chicken. And JetBlue was sued by a passenger who said a “dangerously cold” ice cream sandwich fractured her tooth. This isn’t just a dental case because the injury is central to her work as a performer. The Montreal Convention Makes The “Accident” Straightforward Since this was international transportation, Smyth brings one claim under Article 17 of the Montreal Convention rather than ordinary California negligence and product-liability claims. That applies to bodily injury caused by an “accident” aboard the aircraft. Under Air France v. Saks, that means an unexpected or unusual event external to the passenger. If a wooden serving skewer unexpectedly fragmented into a passenger’s food and throat, that should be a fairly straightforward treaty “accident.” The incident allegedly occurred July 28, 2024. Smyth filed suit on July 24, 2026 which is four days before the second anniversary, and the Montreal Convention requires the claim to be brought within two years. Topics on this page