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11 Air & Space Law. 1 (1996-1997)

handle is hein.journals/airspaclaw11 and id is 1 raw text is: Aif~. if ~G 'AM'Wlp Bar ASSOcMon Volume umber ,- Summer 1....96 , AIR' AND SPACE LA Overbooking and Denied Boarding Compensation The Approaches of the European Union and United States BY STEVEN A. MIRMINA* Sonie pleople could compare th( ' airline practice of* overlooking with in outl)reak of tie chicken % pox: both are widespreal, extremely irritating, and univer- sally disliked. Chicken pox do(s have one advantage over overlooking--once( one has ti pirollen, it never occurs again. Unfortunately, the problem of overbooking occurs daily in the airline indlustry. All airlines overhook, and all will continue to (1o so; all passen- gers who are affected are at a minimum displeased, and at a maximum have a tendency to either foam at the mouth in seething rage or initiate lawsuits. The reasons why airlines overl)ook, and the reme- (lies that exist for a passenger prevented from boarding the plane on which le has a ticket for a seat fully paid and confirmed, are examined in this article. Simply stated, overlooking lescrilbes the situa- tion in which airlines accej)t more reservations than exist seats on a flight. For example, a 747 flying from I lart ford, Connecticut, to Amsterdam holds 400 seats. The airline may accept 500 reservations for these 400 seats. The passengers who appear at the airport, cleck-in, and then are lenied ilpermission to boar(d the plane are said to he ulmlped, in the sellse that they are hunmped off of the Plane, because the airline made bookings (reservations) greater than the seat capacity of the plane, overbooking the flight. Over- booking in itself' is not a l)ro)lem; however, denied Ioarding is. Why Do Airlines Overbook? The reasons for such a practice are clear and practical. Airlines overbook to ensure that when the plane takes off, as many seats are occupied as possible, even (continued on page 7) European Aviation Safety Regulation BY JOHN BALFOUR* The Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) plays a major role in aviation safety regulation in Europe, l)ut it does not issue certificates or licences, has very few staff, cannot make binding decisions. and in fhct has no legal exis- tence! Moreover, although recognized by European Community (EC) law, its membership also includes non-EC countries in Europe. The EC Commission claims competence for sonic (but not all) aspects of avi- ation safety regulation, but does not in fact exercise it and in any case has almost no staff with which to do so. And so the EC (and, of course, the European Eco- nomic Area (EEA)) member states continue to under- take most aviation safety regulatory tasks in practice. The Inte.'national Background As is well known, aviation safety regulation is dealt with both by an almost worldwide multinational sys- tem and by a system of national regulation tied to the nationality of aircraft. Both systems resulted from the 1944 Chicago Convention, which introduced the prin- cil)lo that the safety regulation of aircraft and of their operation is the responsibility of the state of registra- (continued on page 10) Overhooking and Denied Boarding Compensation 1 European Aviation Safety Regulation 1 Chair's Message 2 Edtor's Columni 3 The lFutire and Effet( of the IATA hitercarrier Agreement on Passenger Liability 3 A Plaintiff's Reflections on the IATA Intercarrier Agrocnent 5

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