Should Passengers Accept Delta Air Lines' $30,000 'No Strings Attached' Compensation Offer? Lawyers Weigh In

Delta Air Lines, Inc. DAL has put forth a “no strings attached” offer of $30,000 to each passenger of a flight that crash-landed in Toronto. Legal advisors weigh in if passengers should accept this proposal.

What Happened: Delta Air Lines has proposed a $30,000 payment to each of the 76 passengers and 4 crew members aboard Flight 4819, from Minneapolis–St. Paul International Airport which crash-landed in Toronto last week. All passengers survived the crash, but 21 suffered physical injuries. According to Delta, all the passengers have been released from the hospital.

Delta emphasized that it doesn’t infringe on the passengers’ rights and comes with no conditions. Lawyers have termed this as an “advance payment,” which doesn’t bar passengers from seeking legal action in the future. The payment doesn’t constitute an admission of liability by the airline.

As per the Warsaw and Montreal Conventions, in the event of death or injury on international flights, the airline is liable to pay compensation to the passengers.

Robert Hedrick, an attorney at Aviation Law Group PS, urged passengers to accept the offer, clarifying that it “should not be a full and final settlement and release the airlines from any claims”, reported MarketWatch. Meanwhile, Vincent Genova, head of Rochon Genova's Aviation Litigation Group told MarketWatch "There's no reason why they should not take it as long as they are not signing away their rights, which they are not being asked to do."

On the flipside, John Carpenter, personal injury attorney and cofounder of Carpenter & Zuckerman law firm told Fortune that the payment process is unlikely to be as straightforward as sending a check, and passengers should carefully review the fine print of any agreement they sign.

Aviation attorney Timothy A. Loranger of  Wisner Baum law firm told Fortune, "For those with significant injuries, $30,000 may be grossly inadequate and far from full compensation." 

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Why It Matters: This incident comes on the heels of a previous report of a recent mid-air collision of two small planes, the  Cessna 172S and Lancair 360 MK II near Arizona’s Marana Regional Airport that led to two fatalities, underscores the importance of passenger safety and airline liability in the aviation industry.

While Delta’s gesture to offer ‘no strings attached’ compensation is largely being seen as a positive and strategic move to prioritize goodwill and avoid getting embroiled in litigation, legal experts advise passengers to exercise caution.

Meanwhile, Kare11, a Minneapolis-based news channel, contacted a few survivors of the crash who confirmed that Delta’s offer is accompanied by a lengthy “Terms and Conditions” section and they are consulting legal experts.

Price Action: Delta Air Lines declined 4.95% over the past five days. Over the last year, the stock soared more than 47% as per Benzinga Pro.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.