Originally Posted by
Often1
It is indeed semantics. AA, in this case, chooses to set its liability limit at "up to $3,500" per its COC.
The suggestion that the $3,500 limit is not enforceable because DOT does not specify a limit is incorrect.
What I had not realized until I reread the AA provision is that AA sets an outside limit of $5,000 even with purchased excess baggage. Thus, the $7,000+ loss situation he uses is even beyond what one could purchase (from AA).
It is true that the limit is set by the airline, not by DOT. The only regulation is that they may not set it below $3500. There is no law that says that the limit that the airline sets is enforceable. They can write whatever they want in their CoC. Whether that forms a contract in the legal sense is up to the courts to decide. Can there be a contract (which requires a meeting of the minds) if one of the parties is unaware of the contract? Again, that's a question for the courts. Which is why there are lawsuits, and passengers do win sometimes, regardless of the CoC.
The idea that the airline can set whatever rules they want in their CoC, and they will automatically be upheld by the court, is simply not correct.