Damage to baggage

On the basis of the Aviation Act no. 60/1998 with subsequent amendments, international conventions named after Warsaw from 1929, and annexes, protocols, and the Montreal Convention from 1999, the carrier is liable for damage resulting from delays in the carriage of passengers, baggage and cargo. However, the carrier shall not be liable for damage occasioned by delays in carriage if the carrier can prove that the carrier and carrier’s employees and agents took all measures that could reasonably be required or that it was impossible to take such measures.

The carrier is responsible for the following damage to baggage:

• Damage sustained in the case of loss, damage or destruction of checked baggage if the event of the damage took place on board the aircraft or while the checked baggage was in the custody of the carrier, carrier’s employees or agents.
• damage to unchecked baggage, including personal items, if the damage can be traced to a fault of the carrier, carrier’s staff or agents.
• if the carrier admits to the loss of checked baggage, or if checked baggage has not arrived within 21 days of its scheduled arrival at the destination.

The carrier is not liable if, and to the extent that, the damage to the baggage can be attributed to inherent defects or condition of the baggage.In the carriage of baggage, the liability of the carrier is limited to 1.150 SDR for each passenger, unless the passenger has, at the time of checking in the baggage, specifically declared the interests relating to the delivery of the baggage at its destination and paid the required supplementary charge.

In the event of damage, the consignee shall notify the carrier immediately on the discovery of the damage, and, at the latest, within seven days from the date of receipt in the case of checked baggage. In the case of delay, the notification must have been delivered at the latest within twenty-one days from the date on which the baggage should have been delivered. A day means a calendar day.

Failing notification of damage within the time limits specified in Paragraph 2, no action shall lie against the carrier, save in the case of fraud on the carrier’s part.

The right to damages pursuant to this Chapter shall be extinguished if an action is not brought within a period of two years, reckoned from the date of arrival at the destination, or from the date on which the aircraft ought to have arrived, or from the date on which the carriage stopped.