They asked for C$5000 and were awarded C$1776. Clearly they packed things of value in the suitcase, which one should never do.
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The judge based her decision on an airline treaty known as the Montreal Convention. The provisions were adopted by Canada and became law in this country in 2003.
The convention states that an airline is liable to pay out no more than the equivalent of 1,000 Special Drawing Rights (which is currently worth about $1,670) for "each passenger" who has destroyed, damaged or lost baggage.
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"The proper construction of the word passenger is the one which denotes an individual who is a passenger and who has checked the piece of baggage that is lost," said Judge Low in her ruling issued on August 14.
Otherwise, "any passenger on a flight could advance a claim for compensation arising out of loss of another person's baggage," the judge noted.
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