travel law

• Aviation White Paper is a missed opportunity to secure important rights for passengers

  26th Aug 2024

  The Aviation White Paper released today is a missed opportunity to bring Australian passenger rights in line with other countries internationally, says the Australian Lawyers Alliance.

• Airline Passenger Protections (Pay on Delay) Bill 2024 (Cth)

  26th Jun 2024

• SQ321 passengers may never receive compensation for psychological injury

  14th Jun 2024

  Despite Singapore Airlines’ recent compensation offer, passengers who have been traumatised by their experience of severe turbulence on flight SQ321 might never be compensated for their psychological scars, say lawyers calling for law reform in Australia.

• Call for Passenger Bill of Rights to be included in Aviation White Paper

  29th Nov 2023

  The Australian Government should create new aviation-specific consumer protection laws in the form of a Passenger Bill of Rights, says the Australian Lawyers Alliance in its submission to the Aviation White Paper which will set the policy direction for the aviation sector out to 2050. 

   

• Aviation Green Paper

  29th Nov 2023

• Aviation White Paper must consider flight delay compensation and improved rights for passengers

  13th Mar 2023

  A bespoke Australian flight delay compensation scheme should be part of the Federal Government’s aviation White Paper, a policy document which will set the long-term direction for the aviation sector, says the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA).

• Flight delay compensation - Australia lags behind much of the world - change needed

  23rd Nov 2022

  The lack of compensation for flight delays and cancellations in Australia puts us behind much of the world when it comes to protecting traveller’s rights, says the Australian Lawyers Alliance.  

• Cruise passenger contractual rights: Developments from Ruby Princess class action

  3rd Nov 2022

  Victoria Roy, Secretary of the NSW Branch of the ALA and Chair of the ALA’s Travel Law Special Interest Group, discusses the latest development in the Ruby Princess matter, which has ‘far reaching implications for consumers and travel lawyers’ and ‘suggests a climate in favour of corporations rather than individual consumers when it comes to assessing the fairness of contractual terms’.

• Australia needs flight delay and cancellation compensation

  20th Oct 2022

  It is time for Australia to have its own flight delay and cancellation compensation regime to protect the rights of passengers, says the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA).

• Travel industry accreditation scheme should be strengthened to improve consumer protections

  31st May 2022

  Stronger industry regulation through the Australian Federation of Travel Agents (AFTA) accreditation scheme (ATAS) will help address consumer issues highlighted by the recent pandemic lock-downs, says the Australian Lawyers Alliance (ALA).

• Navigating exclusive jurisdiction clauses in overseas holiday contracts

  7th Oct 2021

  Exclusive jurisdiction clauses are commonplace in holiday contracts and stipulate which jurisdiction’s courts a consumer should sue in if a dispute arises. Victoria Roy discusses the Federal Court case of Karpik v Carnival, involving the Ruby Princess COVID-19 disaster, where the exclusive jurisdiction clause in question was found not to have been validly incorporated. However, Karpik also demonstrates it is unlikely that s24 of the ACL would render such a clause unfair and void.

• US White Island lawsuit: Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd v Browitt

  5th Aug 2021

  In the Federal Court decision of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd v Browitt [2021] FCA 653, two Melbourne victims of the White Island volcano disaster defeated legal action brought by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd to stop the victims from proceeding with their claims in Florida. Victoria Roy provides a summary of the legal issues in dispute and analysis of this cruise ship accident case.