Does Your Family Get Money if You Die in a Plane Crash

How practise air crash victims become compensated?

Passengers are entitled to compensation under an international convention

Priya Nair Final Updated at July 28, 2014 02:05 IST

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Over the past two weeks, more than 300 people have died in air crashes. The first was on July 17, when Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down in Ukraine and all 298 people on board died. The second was on July 23 when a TransAsia plane crashed in Taiwan due to a draft and 48 people lost their lives. While no amount of monetary compensation can make up for the loss to lives, passengers and their families must be aware of what they are entitled to in example of an airline accident.

Earlier, airlines were governed by an international agreement called the Warsaw Convention, drafted in 1929. According to information technology, amercement for injury or death were capped at $8,300 a passenger. This was replaced by the Montreal Convention, 1999. The limits prescribed in this were start revised in 2003 and then afterward in 2009.

While the Montreal Convention gives consumers better protection and bounty, not all countries have ratified it. India is a signatory and, hence, the rules will apply to Indian passengers. The diverse provisions of the Montreal Convention include details on what is the airline's liability and what bounty passengers are entitled to in instance of decease and injury to passengers, damage to luggage, and impairment and delay to cargo.

The provisions of the Convention say: "The carrier is liable for damage sustained in case of death or bodily injury of a passenger upon status only that the accident which caused the death or injury took identify on board the aircraft or in the form of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking."

Compensation in example of death or injury

Co-ordinate to Article 21 of the Montreal Convention, in instance of death of passengers, the airline is liable to pay up to i,13,100 Special Drawing Rights for each passenger. This works out to approximately $one,74,000 at electric current rates. (In Indian rupees this works out to approximately Rs ane.04 crore). If there is demand for compensation higher than this limit, the airline tin can contest it. If it is proved that such damage was not due to the negligence or other wrongful deed or omission or the airlines, its staff or agents, or if such damage was solely due to the negligence or other wrongful act or omission of a third political party then the airline is not liable to pay the higher amount. Merely information technology cannot contest if the merits is inside the limit.

Compensation in case of filibuster
Article 19 of the Convention says if any damage is caused to passengers due to delay, then airlines are bound to pay 4,694 SDRs for each rider. This works out to $vii,221. In example of destruction or damage to baggage, the airlines are liable to pay ane,131 SDRs, which works out to approximately $1,740.

The value of the SDRs is calculated every bit defined by the International Monetary Fund (Imf). The prescribed limits will be revised every v years. This revision will be based on the weighted boilerplate of the annual rates of increase or decrease in the consumer cost indices of the various countries. This is why if there are passengers of dissimilar nationalities in an air crash, the compensation amounts might vary. The convention also prescribes a certain limit for countries that are not role of the IMF.

Ramesh Vaidyanathan, founder and managing partner of Advaya Legal, says these amounts are determined, based on negotiations by countries. The limits are a cap, which means passengers can get less than the prescribed amounts.

"All airlines are covered by the mandatory insurance, which pays the bounty in case of such accidents. Information technology is similar to the third-party insurance for motor vehicles. All airlines pay money, which goes to a pool and the payment is made out of this puddle," says Vaidyanathan.

The final amount will depend on the Property and Causality Embrace the particular airline has, says an insurance company official. "It volition depend on who is the insurer and re-insurer of the airline. These depend on the personal treaty between the insurance companies and these treaties are customised."

There were reports that in the Ukraine crash, the airline might refuse to pay some part of the insurance on the ground that information technology was an act of war. However, the insurance company official says that is non the instance. "When the shipping (Malaysia Airlines Flight 17) flew over the zone, it was a safe zone. Only later was it declared a danger zone. Information technology is possible this example might go into arbitration."

Co-ordinate to Vaidyanathan, the airlines will ensure the payment of compensation to the families of victims is smoothen, given the severity of the situation. "While usually, there are rules similar intimating within a certain time frame and then on, in such cases these rules could be waived."

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Kickoff Published: Sun, July 27 2014. 22:49 IST

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