An Oregon man who was flying home from the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport pleaded with a Delta Airlines flight attendant about the "extreme discomfort" he was enduring because of a loud noise during the nearly four-hour flight.

Flight staff didn't offer him ear plugs or offer to turn the plane around or make an early, unscheduled landing before reaching Portland International Airport, according to Kent J. Neilson's $2 million lawsuit filed Friday in Multnomah County Circuit Court.


Neilson temporarily lost hearing in one ear, and today suffers permanent hearing loss in both ears, according to his suit. The suit also claims he has "disabling and severely aggravating" tinnitus in both ears.


An airline spokesperson couldn't immediately be reached for comment. Neither could Neilson's Portland attorneys, Robert B. Hopkins and Matthew K. Clarke.


The complaint describes Neilson only as an Oregon man. It alleges that the noise during the April 28, 2010 flight was loudest in the area around his exit row seat, 10B. The suit alleges that as the flight neared landing, a flight attendant told Neilson that other passengers had complained about the noise on a previous flight.