After a couple was banned from Cathay Pacific airline following the seat adjustment debate, we take a look at the legal issues

“I’ve been there – and normally the steward or stewardess on the flight will hopefully ask the person to raise their seat – at least during meals. But I understand, you can see why people can get angry in different situations – we are emotional creatures!”

Although Hunter said he won’t recline his own seat if someone in front of him does, “I’ll live with that.”

And he warned that passengers who fail to follow crew instructions (including instructions during their briefings) will face arrest, hefty fines or bans from flying.

But does an airline have a duty to provide passengers with a certain level of comfort and convenience, and does the airline have a duty to intervene if another passenger disrupts this?

“Like all lawyers, I will say it depends,” Hunter said. Different laws apply to international or domestic travel.

International flights

“On an international flight, your ticket is governed by the Montreal Convention, you have no recourse against the airline if you experience any inconvenience.

“Unless the ticket itself stipulates that X amount of space needs to be provided, or there is a health and safety issue or something like that – unfortunately for an international airline there is no real obligation, much against that to undertake. ”

Each airline makes its own commercial calculation by weighing how many people can fit on a plane and how much comfort it can provide, balancing profit and reputation.

But if an international traveler suffers a verifiable loss, that could be a different matter, Hunter said.

The Montreal Convention is a treaty signed by various countries, including New Zealand, that regulates the legal liability of airlines.

“If you suffer actual harm – so for example, if you suffered an injury as a result, something on you was damaged – something like that, you could well have some sort of legal claim against an airline on an international flight,” Hunter said .

“And it’s possible that you get a minor injury just because you’re cramping or something like that… but unlike virtually everything else, you’re actually allowed to bring a claim under the Montreal Convention, even if you already have ACC insurance.”

“What you can’t really fix is ​​what lawyers would call general damages or discomfort or inconvenience.”

Domestic flights

“All of this is slightly different for domestic travel as the Consumer Guarantee Act applies to domestic travel,” Hunter said.

“Minimum standards of service are required and then the airline may well breach them by, for example, not providing you with an appropriate seat of appropriate quality – and that could affect the person next to you.” Or the fact , that people recline their very narrow seats and lie very close to each other.

“Consumers are more competent when it comes to such things when traveling domestically than when traveling abroad, although the situation for personal injury when traveling abroad is much better.”

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