Flight delayed? Send an $8000 bill

[kpc]

FOREIGN airlines will have to pay up to $8000 a person for delayed flights, $1800 for lost luggage and $180,000 compensation for injury or death in a plane crash under new laws proposed by the Rudd Government.
The changes, introduced to Parliament by the Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, yesterday, would bring Australia into line with signatories to the Montreal Convention, an agreement between 86 countries.

Flight delayed? Send an $8000 bill - Travel - smh.com.au

 

[oz_mark]

Sounds like an overdue thing to do.

Next they can deal with the domestic carriers.

 

[serfty]

Aha! "The Montreal Convention".

Interesting that the article promotes an onus issue which I'm not certain existed as stated. Nor is there specific mention of the currently applicable "Warsaw" convention and it's ~$30 per Kg compensation (up to AUD950 on QF's 32 Kg limit).

 

[serfty]

Its taken its sweet time to gestate but somewhat over 9 months after this was announced the Oz Go't has finally ratified the Montreal Convention.

Australia ratifies new overseas air travel convention | Travel News | News.com.au

Australia ratifies new overseas air travel convention

AAP

January 29, 2009 02:45pm

THE compensation cap for death and injury from overseas air travel has been removed under a new agreement ratified by the Australian government.

Previously, compensation for death or injury was commonly capped at an amount set in the 1920s in a currency that no longer exists.

The nearly six million Australians who travel overseas each year will now be covered by the Montreal Convention, the government says.

...

Under the convention, airlines can be required to compensate passengers for all proven damages. The compensation cap has been removed entirely in the case of death or injury.

Fairer and timelier compensation will be paid for lost baggage and freight, and losses caused by extensive delays, Mr Albanese said.

Nations such as the United States, Britain, Japan, China, New Zealand and most European Union countries had ratified the convention by 2004.

In relation to lost/delayed baggage, if it is missing for more than 21 days, it must be trated as lost.

Max compensation is 1000 "Special Drawing Rights" or SDRs (also referred to as XDR's). Currently, an XDR is worth ~1½USD - that's about ~AUD2.35, so compensation for lost luggage on Qantas international is now limited to ~AUD2,350.

Under the old Warsaw convention, compensation was limited to 17 SDR's per Kg, so with the 20Kg economy limit (soon to be replaced wirh 23Kg) compensation was limited to ~AUD800 (~AUD930).

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