Airline liability to passengers and cargo

Introduction

While traveling over the seas or lands through the air, the risk of loss of life or property is always high. Although, airlines make every possible measure to protect their passengers and cargo. Yet, there are high possibilities of any unpredicted incident. In this way, airlines are responsible for the safe transportation of passengers and cargo and a secure hand-over of cargo to their owners (Mega, 2018). To compensate for any delays loses, damages, or death incidents occurring to the passengers or cargo, the global airlines announced and adopted passenger and cargo liability and responsibilities policies in 1929. The first liability law was introduced during the Warsaw convention which has been through numerous amendments and changes. With the advancement in technology and aeronautics, the application scope and importance of lability laws change and there is a need for new or amended laws (Catlin & Varon, 2017). In 1999, during the Montreal convention, the “convention of unification of certain rules for international carriage by Air” was declared as the active liability law to be followed worldwide. It was the amended version of the Warsaw system. According to this policy, all passengers much be provided with fair compensation to them on their loss. In case of loss of life or any severe medical injury that happened during the flight, the heirs of the passenger are provided with the liability funds (IATA, 2020). This attempt to promote the health and safety of passengers and cargo enhances global aerial-collaboration.

Arline liability to domestic passengers

Domestic passengers are those whose travel destinations are within the same country. Such passengers have fairly fewer compensations and liabilities than international passengers. However, life is always the most precious thing to protect during either way of traveling (Nilson, 2017). If any passengers have a travel destination in the same country but the travel route includes an international stop, then the passenger would be counted as an international passenger. According to the liability laws, the domestic passengers are provided with the following services:

Ø All cargo of the passenger (within the specified safety and weight limits) would be the responsibility of the airline

Ø All passengers in the aircraft and their cargo would have the same attention from the airline

It identifies that all the domestic passengers would have the highest level of care and security and any loss of their medical conditions or their lives would have the highest compensations. In this way, the airline crew and service staff are responsible to ensure maximum comfort and care for the passengers. The passenger is given liabilities for their cargo with identified parameters, such as per bag or pound in dollars (Franks, 2006). Private airline services have the authority to adopt their own liabilities policies unless they are unreasonably invalid for the compensations. Domestic traveling is lesser in costs than international flights and covers fewer liabilities. In various cases, the labilities exclude the damages onto the cargo or have fewer compensations.

Cargo-international policy

The cargo international policy refers to the international laws and set of standards that apply to the cargo being transported via airline services. All the member states of the international civil aviation organizations are bound to meet the standards of international cargo (ICAO, 2018). For this purpose, the passengers are guided about the cargo and their standards before the flight so they can make sure that they meet the required standards. The following are some important clauses for the cargo international policies.

Ø All passengers should carry the identified number of bags or pounds of weight of cargo. Cargo that exceeds the identified limits would require custom compensations to be fulfilled by the passengers.

Ø Drugs, medicines, weapons, or dangerous items are not allowed to be taken across borders. All bags of the passengers would be checked before boarding to ensure the maximum security of the fellow passengers.

Ø If any cargo material is breakable, for instance, made of glass, or is an electronic gadget for instance LED TV, smart gadgets, and others, the passengers must tag them as “breakable” to ensure that the crew handles them with care. If any breakage is observed without the labeling, the liability would not be eligible, eligible otherwise.

Ø The cargo must be packed and safely locked to avoid any mixture with other passengers.

Ø If any cargo piece or utility is left out, mis-transported, or handed over to a non-owner, the instant claim would be acceptable for immediate measures to have safe access to the cargo.

Liability to international passengers

While considering international traveling with greater distances and risks, the liabilities for international traveling are more than those offered in domestic servicing. The airlines operating internationally are linked with global destinations to ensure maximum security for their passengers and their cargo (Clyde & LLP, 2019). A various attempt is taken to ensure maximum ease of service. The following are some of the best practices.

Ø There is great management for the cargo packaging and their grouping to ensure that the cargos with the same destinations are packed together. It is done to avoid mishandling or mis-transportation of the cargo.

Ø If the cargo is transported or unloaded to a wrong location, the compensations in the liabilities include re-transportation of the cargo package to the correct destination with the latest flight possible (McKay, 2019).

Ø The liabilities also include compensations for the damages to the cargo. If any items are broken, stolen, or spoiled, the airlines are liable to ensure the most effective airline servicing.

Ø In case of a medical emergency, the crew is trained available with sufficient tools and medicine to provide the first aid assistance to the passengers. Leading airlines also include a team of paramedical staff to provide the best services to the clients.

Ø Leading airlines also include restaurants and shops for passengers on international flights. Services of spa and salons are also provided to ensure the maximum comfort of the passengers.

Ø Loss of life of any passenger due to any reason while on the flight is compensated with a life insurance liability for the passengers. This amount is to be claimed by the heirs of the passenger (Bo, 2006).

Ø If the plane faces an incident for instance crash or system failure, all losses to life and property are compensation with a fair amount to the passengers or their heirs.

Cargo-introduction policy

Cargo introduction policies are concerned with the safety of cargo with convenient cargo introduction policies. These include standard methods to mark the belongings with their owners and the relevant flight data. Each included in the international flight is labeled and tagged with the owner’s information, relevant flight information, and destination (Yamaguchi & Dunt, 2013). In case of any mishandling or loss, the cargo can be identified easily and be handed over to the right authority. On arrival of cargo and passengers to an international destination, the airport authority would recheck all passengers and their cargo for safety measures. It is done to ensure the national cargo safety policies. It is often possible for the airports to allow items that are not allowed in the destination location. Likewise, the insurance of cargo is also provided for safe transportation. Therefore, the international cargo introduction policy allows date identification and traveling of the cargo across borders.

Passenger rights in Oman

To maximize the services while airline servicing and traveling, The Omen airline has specified passenger rights to ensure maximum liability and passenger care (PACA, 2019). Here are some of the important clauses.

Ø PACA (Public authority for civil aviation) is responsible to make all efforts for the law enforcement and development of liability laws.

Ø The air tickets bought by the passengers are acting contracts between the passengers and the airlines, which verifies the passengers to be eligible for airline liabilities and services.

Ø The passengers, if following and abiding all procedures, rules, and expectations would be provided all services with ease and care.

Ø Passengers must be informed about the delays in the flights or any cancellations.

Ø Passengers deserve accommodations such as food, hoteling, and security if flights are delayed.

Ø Passengers have the right to deny from boarding anytime they wish for. In this case, they sign off from all liabilities possible. However, if the cargo is already loaded on the plane, it would be unloaded as soon as the news is announced. Whilst, if the flight takes off, the cargo would be returned to the owner on the next flight and no compensations would be offered.

Ø The carrier shall be responsible for all the losses to the cargo caused during handling and offer liabilities.

Ø If the patient is a disabled person, the airline crew shall not effuse to help in any case. In this case, no additional charges would apply to the passenger for the services.

Conclusion

International travel has always been a challenge for airlines and passengers. The security and safe transportation of the cargos and the passengers are essential to promote trust and mutuality among the passengers. To enhance the aerial industry with fast and easy transportation, the risks of being in the air and international or domestic traveling are compensated with fair liabilities to avoid trust issues and other legal challenges. These are liability laws applicable to domestic and international passengers and cargo. The extent and worth of these packages are different from differences in the travel packages and ticket class. However, the life of the passengers is at the highest priority. All the airline personnel and flight crew are responsible and trained in a way to provide easy traveling services and on-flight care to the passengers. Necessary first aid and medical training are also provided so that the flights don’t need to land in case of a medical emergency among the passengers. However, if the emergency is out of control from the crew or requires expert assistance, the flights are liable to land onto the nearest airport and such situations are to be entertained in any case. The planes and pilots are specially tested and trained to survive extreme weather conditions and possible system failures. Pilots and the crew are authenticated with flying licensee to ensure the safest supervision of flights in the air. Such measures ensure safe and healthy airline services and also motivates the passengers to keep their trust maintained over the airlines.

Bibliography

Bo, J., 2006. International Air Carrier’s Liability to Passengers Under the Warsaw Convention 1929 and the Montreal Convention 1999. s.l., Golden Gate University School of Law.

Catlin, F. & Varon, P., 2017. Liability of Airlines. [Online]
Available at: https://fallgatterlaw.com/liability-of-airlines/

Clyde & LLP, C., 2019. Liability for international air carriage of passengers in Spain. [Online]
Available at: https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=848b8828-3012-4a3d-8963-193beca58471

Franks, M. R., 2006. Franks, M. R., Airline Liability for Loss, Damage or Delay of Passenger Baggage (October 2006). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=937936 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.937936, s.l.: Southern University Law Center.

IATA, 2020. The Montreal Convention 1999 (MC99). [Online]
Available at: https://www.iata.org/en/policy/smarter-regulation/mc99/

ICAO, 2018. Air Transport Policy and Regulation. [Online]
Available at: https://www.icao.int/sustainability/pages/economic-policy.aspx

McKay, J., 2019. Domestic or International Itinerary?. [Online]
Available at: https://www.flightadvocate.com/aviation-law-us-canada-and-international/domestic-or-international-itinerary/

Mega, J. A., 2018. Important Facts on Airline Liability & Legal Policies. [Online]
Available at: https://www.decof.com/blog/2018/march/important-facts-on-airline-liability-legal-polic/

Nilson, S., 2017. Airline Liability. [Online]
Available at: https://www.sarahnilsson.org/aviation-law/as-405-part-b/airline-liability/

PACA, 2019. PASSENGER RIGHTS. [Online]
Available at: https://www.paca.gov.om/passenger-rights

Yamaguchi, S. & Dunt, J., 2013. Japan: the insurance of international cargo business. In: International cargo insurance. s.l.: Taylor and Francis, p. 145.