Originally Posted by
Loren Pechtel
$5k won't cover what some people are carrying. It should be replacement value of what you were carrying, you need to show ownership of big ticket items you are claiming.
If you are routinely carrying US$5000 worth of items on board, you should insure that separately.
If airlines had to compensate every item that was carried, then it would be reasonable for them to thoroughly inspect all carry-on luggage at boarding and on arrival. It might also encourage strange people to carry large amounts of cash, jewelry or gold etc. and hope that they need to evacuate.
I think US$1500 would be sufficient for all passengers to replace their passport (unless something fishy was going on with their documents), buy a basic phone and/or make international calls, eat, and a place to sleep for a few nights.