Carriage of Passengers and Their Luggage
First of all a carrier is an individual who transfers the person or items other than for his own purpose. It is essential to define what directs the contract of the carriage in order to
The dos and don’ts of carriers are dictated by the common law and relevant legislation such as the Carriage by Air Act 1961. Scottish law, as driven from the Roman law principle is also followed in Europe.
The Occupiers Liability Act 1957 in Scotland applies to the aircrafts the same way as to the premises. The duty of the carrier is to guarantee the safe transfer of passenger and the luggage. The standards of operations are very high. Carriers are liable for any defect of the aircraft that was committed after the inspection. They must ensure the crew is competent enough to properly maintain and operate the vehicle, as well as take care of customers (Grant, D, 2015).
6.1 The Travel Agent – Carrier Relationship
Tour Operator organizes packages tours that include the transportation services and then sells it to the to the customer directly or to Travel Agency, is like an intermediary for the carrier. If the client injures himself or loses his property inside the transport that was provided in the package, his first application should be against the Tour Operator, according to the Package Travel Regulations 1992 (Stone, R, 2015).
Travel Agents as well sell air tickets on behalf of the airlines, are not included in the package list. It is important to state that the relationship between the Travel Agent and the airline is the same as between the Travel Agent and Tour Operator – Travel Agent acts on behalf of
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both, gets only the commission from the products sold, thus is not liable for any customer complains(Stone, R, 2015) . There are, however, a list of reasons when the TA will be liable to the client:
Ownership of the craft provided to the customer
Giving out incorrect information, failing to announce any special requests or restrictions
Providing service, in spite of the customers reluctance or ignorance
Failing to note the poor track record of the carrier and aware the customer
Deforming or concealment the name of the carrier from the customer
Generally, a Travel Agent has limited liability and control over the carriers operations. The carrier maintains its own aircrafts, therefore is responsible for its safety and proper work.
International Carriage by Air
7.1 Warsaw Convention 1929
This section will include the historical details in order to see the Law creating process and examine the reasons of its establishment in order to better understand its purpose and regulating aims.
After the First World War the growing development of the airline industry has driven to the necessity of establishing international rules for its regulation. Although, the Paris Convention 1919 had defined the sovereignty of airspace above each country’s territory, many countries presented their own laws concerning the obligations of the crafts in their airspace. Due to the fact of poor coordination, variety of laws and regulations in small scale distance and fast growing international air travel, the industry had to face different legal problems, conflicts between countries and even air accidents.
It was recognized that by creating a single list of rules followed by most countries it would be possible to avoid all the challenges. In addition, travelers would feel more secure while traveling, since they knew there would be less chance of legal redress if something went wrong. The result of this was the Convention of the Unification of Certain Rules relating to International Carriage by Air – the “Warsaw Convention”.
The Convention pointed the rights and obligations of the carrier and also has directions for the standardized operations, ticketing issues and other documentation regulation. The preamble of the Convention sets out its purpose:
“…regulating in a uniform manner the conditions of international transportation by air in respect of the documents used for such as transportation and the liability of the carriers”.
The aim of the Convention is to balance the relation between the passengers and carriers considering the interests of both. In particular, the level of protection has grown, for customers in terms of legal and physical safety, for the carriers in terms of financial security.
The United Kingdom ratified the Convention and it was adopted by the law on 14 February 1933 by the Carriage by Air Act 1932.
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7.2 Application of the Convention in the Scottish Law
The Convention applies to all international journeys or baggage transfer performed by airlines for payment. The flight is considered to be international if the departure and destination are (a) in the state of two separate Contracting Parties; or (b) in the state of one Contracting Party, with an agreed stopping spot in other state. (ABTA.com, 2015)
7.3 Passengers’ Tickets
A ticket is not considered to be a written contract, however it provides evidence of the passenger obtaining the right to travel. A ticket must be delivered to the passenger and must include the information:
Highlight the departure and destination names
If there are any stopping points in the territory of another country
Notice that if the trip includes the stop in the country other than destination, according to the Warsaw Convention in most cases, restricts the liability of an airline for death or injury of the passenger, as well as loss of the luggage
7.4 Delay
Article 19 claims that carrier is liable for the delay of the passenger or cargo transfer.
7.5 Overbooking
Overbooking is not considered to be a ‘delay’, according to Article 19. Therefore, the Convention provides no cover for people left outboard and majority of airlines do not provide or limit the liability for overbooking in the conditions applicable to the ticket.