Flight Accident Claims

Thousands of passengers on board airplanes are injured by no fault of their own. Many people do not think they can claim for personal injuries sustained on airplanes however this is not the case.

Passenger’s can be entitled to compensation for any injury sustained in the following circumstances:

• Boarding a flight
• Disembarking a flight
• During a flight

The law governing flight accident claims are the Montreal Convention, in particular Article 17. The laws surrounding these types of accidents state that airlines are responsible for death or bodily injury of a passenger upon the condition that the incident took place on board the aircraft. Courts have concluded that anything out of the norm will constitute a personal injury, even if this is caused by another passenger. This is what is known as a strict liability offence so there is no need for negligence to be proven unlike other cases as the airline will be held strictly liable. This means that these types of personal injury cases are actually a lot easier to win.
The most common types of accidents that passenger’s sustain on airplanes are as follows:
Items falling onto passengers from the overheads etc
Falling while embarking/disembarking from an airplane
The most important thing to do if you have sustained an injury on an airplane is to notify the flight attendants immediately and attempt to fill out an accident report form so they have the details of the accident. They will also attend to you with first aid if required. Also ensure that you have your details of the flight such as seat number and the aircraft details as this will make it easier when bringing a claim against the airline.