According to Article 17(1) of the Montreal Convention 1999 (“MC”), “the carrier is liable for damage sustained in case of death or bodily injury of a passenger upon condition only that the accident which caused the death or injury took place on board the aircraft or in the course of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking.”
There are thus 3 tenets to the rule that imposes liability on carriers. There must be 1) damage sustained in case of death or bodily injury of a passenger; 2) an accident that caused the death or injury; 3) it must have occurred while the passenger was on board the aircraft or embarking/disembarking. For purposes of this question, part 3 would be discussed extensively in relation to case law.
The MC does not
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Three people died and more than forty others were …show more content…
The court followed Day. It was held that in response to boarding calls, if a passenger responded by standing up and attempting to proceed to the boarding line, it could be construed as being under the 1) control of the carrier; 2) taking steps to join other passengers on his flight; 3) his location indicated embarkation since that area is used for that purpose .
Okeke v Northwest Airlines , 2010
The passenger had baggage fees disputes with the airline and was prevented from boarding. The police were called to the gate and the passenger had fainted and was sent to the hospital.
It was held that even when a passenger is refused boarding of the aircraft, the passenger could still be in the operation of embarkation per Art 17 of the MC. The passenger had been ready to board the aircraft and was only physically blocked by someone .
Fedelich v American Airlines , 2010
This concerned the passenger trying to remove her luggage from the carousel, tripping over the emergency stop box and injuring