Planning a holiday is always exciting, from booking your trip to finally getting on the plane to travel to your fabulous destination. With airports being extremely busy environments, there is a higher probability of something going wrong. Your holiday can be ruined before it even begins due to an accident that can result in a severe injury or a cancelled holiday.
Aviation accidents can occur while you are at the terminal, when boarding or leaving the plane, or when you are being transferred from your terminal to your plane.
Examples of Common Accidents on Airports or Aeroplanes
With large numbers of people walking through airport corridors, restaurants, and shops, it’s necessary to upkeep airport maintenance on a regular basis. While at the airport, some incidents that can occur due to improper cleaning or maintenance are:
- Getting food poisoning from a restaurant or café
- Being hit by a heavy object that fell from a shelf in shops
- Slipping and falling due to wet floors
- Being injured while you use airport buses
Airlines are also held to high standards, which means that the strict liability guidelines make them accountable for paying you compensation should you sustain an injury on one of their planes. There are a few common accidents that can occur on planes, such as:
- Injury caused by overhead locker contents falling and hitting you
- Tripping and falling when boarding or leaving the plane
- Injury due to severe turbulence
- Injury due to a spillage from a hot liquid
- Hard emergency landings
- Slipping, tripping, or falling on pathways, escalators, or in and around aircraft
- Lacerations caused by sharp edges
- Collisions caused by aeroplane trolleys
What Can Cause Aeroplane Accidents?
- Aircraft is overloaded
- There is severe turbulence
- The pilot or the crew made an error
- There was an engine failure
- Lack of fuel in the aeroplan
Making a Claim: Who is Liable?
Under the Montreal Convention 1999, which protects your rights as an air passenger, you have a two year limit to bring your claim to court. You should keep in mind, however, that airlines are also given time to investigate your claim, so you should seek professional advice as soon as you can to quickly make a claim.
Should this Convention apply, it will replace domestic law and determine how much compensation you will be awarded. You need only establish that your injury was sustained due to an accident as defined in the Convention, which will then make the airline liable to pay you a full compensation to the maximum level.
Even if your injury was caused due to a third-party negligence while you were boarding or leaving the plane, your claim must be brought to the airline you were flying with. Unlike other cases of personal injury claims, the Court doesn’t possess the discretion to extend the two-year time limit.
If you or a loved one have suffered an accident while at an airport or on a plane, why not get professional advice on how to make a claim? Our team always makes sure that you have the best possible and impartial advice.
Contact us on 01772 562084 to know more about our services.