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Qantas accident shows urgent need to update
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 24 June 2009
CONTACT: Peter Carter on 07 3210 3409 or 0422 445 599
The mid-air incident on Qantas flight 68 from Hong Kong on Monday highlights the urgent need to update Australia's air passenger compensation regime, an aviation law expert said today.
Peter Carter, of Carter Capner Law, said the compensation limits for international fights were updated from January this year but the Federal Government was dragging the chain in doing the same for domestic air travel.
The compensation limits that currently apply for passengers travelling by air within Australia were last set 13 years ago and since then the cost of living has increased by nearly 50%.
"The latest Qantas incident shows that passenger injuries can occur anywhere. Although the QF68 passengers will be satisfactorily compensated, the same cannot be said if the incident occurred on a domestic Australian flight."
"The international community decided in 1999, by way of the Montréal Convention, that the $500,000 liability limit that still applies to injured Australian domestic air passengers was unfair and inadequate," said Carter. "Given Monday's incident there should now be greater urgency to fix the gap."
The new rules that apply from January for international passengers mean the airline is liable for injuries up to $200,000 but will also be presumed liable for all additional passenger losses with no upper limit, unless the airline proves the accident wasn't its fault.
"These are the rules that we are advocating should also apply for domestic air travel," Carter argues. "No reasonable person could contend that a consumer who travels internally should have a much lower standard of legal rights than someone flying internationally."
Mr Carter said that his law firm had been lobbying successive Federal aviation ministers to increase air passenger compensation limits for 5 years. He claims its campaign was instrumental in ensuring the current minister, Anthony Albanese, increased international liability limits after the Howard government consistently refused to do so.
Carter Capner Law is advising all passengers not to sign any documents presented to them by Qantas or its representatives concerning refunds, compensation or bonus flights.
"It is unfair for Qantas to induce passengers to sign away significant compensation rights in an environment where lawyers are prevented from notifying the true legal situation," Carter said. "This is also an issue that we are urging government to reform."
Carter Capner Law's website has an online email protest forum to petition the Federal Minister and all Federal MPs to act immediately to increase the compensation limits for domestic air passengers.
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