Latam Airlines is offering some passengers thousands of dollars in compensation after one of its wide-body jets went down in mid-flight over the Pacific Ocean in March, according to a law firm.
Carter Capner Law, a firm representing 15 passengers on Latam Flight 800, told Australian newspaper News.com.au on Monday that the airline had offered between $2,000 and $7,650 in cash to those injured at the party.
“Passengers who have contacted us have injuries ranging from moderate to serious, and some of them could be entitled to significantly more compensation if the airline is found guilty,” said Peter, director of the law firm. Australian Carter Capner Law. Carter, told News.com.au, noting he had received calls from people in New Zealand, Australia and as far away as Brazil.
An international agreement that governs the global liability of airlines for the death or injury of a passenger is called the Montreal Convention of 1999. It states that passengers can receive up to $160,000 in compensation from the part of the airline and covers losses for reasons such as medical treatment and inability to work. to an injury.
The agreement specifies, however, that this is the “first threshold” and that more money can be recovered. Carter previously told news site Stuff Travel that passengers could seek compensation “in the millions, depending on their circumstances”.
He said the seven-figure payment is possible if losses, like income, can be proven above the current threshold and if Latam is found guilty of the mid-air drop. There “is no limit to compensation” in this case, Carter told Stuff Travel.
However, Carter warned affected passengers against seeking compensation before consulting a lawyer, News.com.au reported, telling the outlet that “any acceptance by a passenger of a sum of money from Latam should not not prejudice its rights to future claims.
For example, he said, in the case of Flight 800, there could be a claim against “Boeing or the system supplier” that could include compensation for “pure emotional and psychological injuries.”
This would likely be the “only” avenue of claim for mentally injured people, given that the 1999 Montreal Convention does not cover psychological scarring unless it is related to bodily injury, Carter told Stuff Travel .
Latam nor Carter Capner Law responded to a request for comment from Business Insider.
The compensation follows a Latam Boeing 787 plane, registered CC-BGG, which was flying from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand, in mid-March when it suddenly fell and injured at least 50 people.
Brian Jokat, a passenger on Latam Flight 800, told CNN that people were “glued to the roof”, while another told CNN affiliate RNZ that there was “blood on the ceiling”.
Latam said a “technical event” caused the incident, but the ongoing investigation suggests a flight attendant accidentally pressed a button on the pilot’s seat that pushed him into the flight controls, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed officials familiar with the preliminary evidence.
The announced payment is not the only one to make headlines in recent months. In November, Russian airline Ural Airlines reportedly offered its passengers $1,100 in compensation after one of its Airbus A320s ditched in a Siberian wheat field in September.
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