Letter · Aviation, Drones & Space
Montreal Convention notice of complaint and claim letter to an air carrier (baggage, cargo or delay)
Written complaint and claim to an air carrier under the 1999 Montreal Convention as enacted in Sch 1A of the Civil Aviation (Carriers’ Liability) Act 1959: the Art 31 complaint windows (7, 14 and 21 days), the Art 35 two-year limit, and a time-bar table.
- Kind
- Letter. A letter or email you adapt and send.
- Where it applies
- Australia, Commonwealth, International / cross-border
- AI use
- Yellow AI can help in set ways. A lawyer checks specific points before use.
- Law stated as at
- 18 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 18 October 2026 against the 4 authorities it cites, for Australia, Commonwealth and International / cross-border.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use for international carriage by air to which the Montreal Convention applies, when checked baggage or cargo is damaged, lost or delayed or a passenger is delayed. Send the Art 31 complaint first and fast; the claim can follow. For domestic carriage, or carriage under another convention, check Parts II to IV of the Act instead. Personal injury claims need separate advice.
Used for these tasks
- Prepare the Montreal Convention claim against an air carrier for baggage, cargo or delay
- Build the Montreal Convention notice and time-bar table for an air carriage claim
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
AI may extract flight, booking and receipt dates from the documents, calculate the Art 31 and Art 35 dates and fill the letter; the lawyer confirms the Convention applies, checks every date against the documents and settles the amount and basis of the claim.
AI may
- Extract the booking reference, flight numbers, dates of arrival and of receipt of baggage or cargo, and the property irregularity report number from the documents
- Calculate the Art 31 complaint deadline and the Art 35 two-year date and flag any already passed
- Assemble the schedule of loss from receipts and valuations the client provides
AI must not
- Must not decide whether the Montreal Convention, another convention or domestic law governs the carriage
- Must not state the applicable liability limit in SDRs without the lawyer checking the current revised figure
- Must not describe the damage or loss beyond what the client’s evidence shows
The lawyer checks
- The carriage is international carriage to which the Montreal Convention applies, with the places of departure and destination checked against the ticket or air waybill
- The written complaint is sent within the Art 31(2) window that applies, by a method that proves when it was given or dispatched
- The Art 35 date is diarised and proceedings are filed in an Art 33 forum before it, regardless of negotiations
- The claim amount, any special declaration of interest and the Art 22 limit are checked before the claim is put
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
The full text is for signed-in accounts. It is free. When you sign in you can:
- read the whole precedent, with its drafting notes beside it;
- copy it, or download it as a Word file or Markdown;
- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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