Liability Limit Lifted on International Crashes

The Transportation Department will allow airlines to lift the limit on compensation for people killed or injured on international flights. The change, effective immediately, will allow passengers and their families to recover unlimited damages in the event of an accident on a carrier that joins in the agreement. Previously the limit was $75,000 unless the victims could prove the airline guilty of willful misconduct leading to the accident. About 65 airlines have already agreed to the proposal. The current limit was set under the 1929 Warsaw Convention, and aviation trade groups and governments have been working for years to change the limit.