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CAVEATEMPTOR

Claims for lost baggage

Amendments to Carriage by Air Act will strengthen the rights of air passengers

In an earlier column, I had discussed the scientific theory about the rings of Saturn being composed entirely of lost airline luggage and the case of Shruti Majumdar, who contributed to the Saturn rings when she travelled from Delhi to Chennai some months ago. I had specifically discussed the current airline policy on compensating consumers for lost, delayed or damaged baggage on the basis of the "weight" of the baggage and stated that the Indian law on this issue, the 1972 Carriage by Air Act, sanctions this generous airline policy.

What I did not share in that column was that the rest of the world had moved on. In 1999, the Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules for International Carriage by Air, signed at Montreal (`the Montreal Convention') discarded the archaic system of "compensating by weight" and embraced the more progressive "compensate by passenger" system.

The Montreal Convention eliminates the meagre and arbitrary limits of liability currently applicable. For lost baggage, for instance, it replaces the current liability limit of Rs. 900 (US $ 20) per kg with a per passenger limit of 1000 SDRs (Special Drawing Rights). (SDRs are a currency conversion measure used by the IMF, where one SDR is equivalent to approximately Rs.70.)

File a claim

Therefore, an airline company would be liable up to Rs. 70,000 per passenger for losing his/her baggage. Of course, this does not mean you will automatically be paid Rs. 70,000 if the airline company loses your baggage. You will still need to file a claim listing out the items inside the lost bag. And you may want to be reasonably accurate here — it would be embarrassing if your baggage was discovered the day after your claim was filed and the seven brand new shirts you were claiming lost, were discovered actually to be well worn T-shirts that your mother has been threatening to use for cleaning the floor! You can also claim for the cost of the suitcase itself.

The airline liability is not limited to the current ridiculous limits, but stands at a respectable Rs. 70,000 per passenger for such lost baggage.

The Montreal Convention also enhances the rights of passengers by introducing other consumer-friendly measures including simplifying the procedures to file claims, clarifying rules on damaged baggage, delayed baggage and cabin baggage.

In 2000, the then U.S. President Bill Clinton noted that the 1999 Montreal Convention would eliminate "the unconscionably low limits of liability" set by earlier international conventions and he urged the U.S. Senate to "urgently" ratify the Montreal Convention. The U.S. Senate responded positively and ratified the Convention, as did several other countries around the world.

Over 70 countries from around the world have signed the Montreal Convention. However, India is still holding on the "unconscionably low limits of liability" for its citizens and is yet to sign, let alone ratify the Montreal Convention.

Significantly though, in response to a request for information made under the Right to Information Act, 2005, the Indian Civil Aviation Ministry has confirmed that it has "in principle" agreed to accede to the Montreal Convention and effect appropriate amendments to the Carriage by Air Act, 1972. We are informed, "The process, thus, is on."

This move will strengthen the rights of air passengers. So the next time, you walk despondently from the baggage claim carousel to the "lost baggage" counter, you can take consolation in the fact that should India accede to the Montreal Convention and amend the Carriage by Air Act, things will improve vastly. And till then, as consumers, we must urge the Government to accelerate this process of amending the Carriage by Air Act.

(The writer works with CAG, which offers free Legal Advice on Consumer Complaints to its members. For membership details contact 24460387 / 24914358 or cag.helpdesk@gmail.com)

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