US denies FlyersRights petition for Montreal Convention for airlines

The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has declined non-profit advocacy group FlyersRights’ attempt to bring US airlines into the Montreal Convention.

Article 19 of the Montreal Convention, which is the international treaty governing air travel, guarantees passenger compensation on a quasi-no fault basis for flight delays on international trips for up to $6,400.

Article 3 of the treaty mandates airlines to provide notification to its passengers in relation to compensation due to flight delays.

FlyersRights president Paul Hudson said: “The airlines only inform you that compensation may be limited, without disclosing the amount of delay compensation (up to $6,400), how to obtain compensation, or that the treaty overrides any contrary provisions in an airline’s contract of carriage.

“The airlines bury the information in dense legalese in lengthy contracts of carriage on their websites, so that the overwhelming majority of passengers are unaware of their delay compensation rights on international trips.”

According to FlyersRights, US airlines American, Delta and United currently provide no notice or bury notices in their web sites.

It also alleged that the airline employees regularly misinform passengers that they have no delay compensation rights.

Hudson added: “It is now up to Congress to mandate plain language notices to end airline delay compensation deception. This deceptive practice has deprived passengers of billions of dollars in delay compensation under international law.”