If you have been injured on board an aeroplane you may be able to claim for compensation. Contact us now.
Accidents on board an aeroplane
Accidents aboard planes can be governed by complex international agreements. These agreements are predominant over national law. It is very important to remember that an injury associated with air flight can also include the boarding and getting off an aircraft process.
Therefore it is possible that an accident that happens whilst you are collecting your bag from the baggage carousel might be covered by these international regulations rather than the local law of the country where you are at the time.
An important difference is the time by which you have to bring a claim to Court. In the UK, for personal injury cases, the time period is 3 years but for an accident governed by the conventions on air travel, it is only 2 years.
These conventions allow you to claim for a bodily injury and unless it is a very valuable claim, the airline would have no defence; this is known as strict liability.
If it is an extremely serious and high value claim then you must prove the airline was at fault. At the moment the law does not allow for psychiatric injury claims as these are not deemed to be “bodily injury”. This is a controversial area of law.
Similarly there has been a long campaign to claim compensation for sufferers of DVT on flights. Again the British Courts have taken the view that this is not bodily injury within the international conventions. Again this is very controversial.
International conventions apply to passengers. It would not necessarily be the same for people who are working whist travelling on a plane such as pilots and stewardesses.
It may also be possible that your tour operator did not incorporate the international conventions into the contract when you booked your flight, although this should be unlikely these days.
Contact us
As this area of law can be complex we recommend you contact a specialist solicitor for further advice. Call us now on 0870 143 0970 or enquiries@rjw.co.uk.
0870 143 0970
enquiries@rjw.co.uk
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