PI lawyer says Montréal Convention on air travel is outdated
The Montréal Convention on air travel needs “revisiting” to meet the rights of disabled passengers, a spinal injuries specialist solicitor has argued.
Where EU law conflicts with the Convention on disability rights, the Convention wins, leaving a disabled passenger with no remedy in a recent Supreme Court case, Stott v Thomas Cook [2014] UKSC 15, [2014] All ER (D) 30 (Mar).
Slater & Gordon solicitor Catherine Leech says the judge accepted that Thomas Cook had breached their duty under EU regulations, but that no award could be made because the regulations were incompatible with the more powerful Convention.
“It is surely time for this piece of legislation to be given a complete overhaul,” says Leech. “The origins of the Montréal Convention are almost 100 years old.”
