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Passengers need 'bill of rights' for air travel, lawyers say
The Australian Lawyers Alliance has called for a “passenger bill of rights” to be included in the upcoming Aviation White Paper.
Jake Nelson
In its submission following the Green Paper released earlier this year, the ALA makes 14 recommendations including compensation for flight delays and cancellations within the airlines’ control, as well as overhauls to civil liability laws.
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Victoria Roy, travel lawyer and spokesperson for the ALA, said current aviation consumer protection mechanisms are “complex and limited”.
“Currently passengers’ rights are found in a complex web of legislation which is hard for consumers to understand. These sources only give passengers limited and vague rights and are difficult and costly for consumers to enforce,” she said.
“A new Australian Passenger Bill of Rights, including a flight delay compensation scheme, should be simple enough for individual consumers to navigate themselves without enlisting the help of a lawyer and include rules around timeframes for airlines to respond to complaints and compensation claims.
“A Bill of Rights would not only provide flight compensation but should also include care standards in the event of airport or tarmac delays, communication requirements plus much more.”
An update of the Civil Aviation (Carriers’ Liability) Act 1959 is also among the recommendations, with Roy saying “several cohorts of air passengers” are left without rights under current laws.
“We are particularly concerned about passengers who have sustained a psychiatric injury maybe due to a near death experience, or as a victim of sexual assault on a flight or who have had a family member die while on a flight,” she said.
“These are traumatic experiences which may result in ongoing psychological harm, but the law does not recognise compensation for these injuries.
“The Aviation White Paper provides the government with an opportunity to be a proactive supporter of Australians’ mental health and give air passengers who suffer psychiatric injury certainty.”
The ALA has previously advocated for a “Canada-style” scheme of compensation for passengers delayed by circumstances within an airline’s control, as well as standards for informing passengers of delays in a timely manner and a legal requirement that airlines provide “appropriate accommodation” to passengers who are significantly delayed or are moderately delayed in the case of certain passenger groups such as pregnant or breastfeeding women and people with disabilities.
The Aviation White Paper, to be released next year, will set the government’s policy direction for the aviation sector to 2050.
