Miami Airline Injury Lawyer

Reviewed by Elizabeth Estrada, a Florida personal injury attorney and Partner at Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada, P.A. Last updated October 30, 2026.

An injury on an international flight is governed by the Montreal Convention, which makes the airline liable under Article 17 for a passenger's death or bodily injury caused by an accident on board or while embarking or disembarking. Since December 28, 2024, the first tier of that liability runs to 151,880 Special Drawing Rights per passenger.

• Flights the treaty covers: Article 1(2) reaches trips whose departure and destination are in two countries that joined the treaty, or in one such country with an agreed stop in another. A trip that never leaves one country is outside it.
• What counts as an accident: The U.S. Supreme Court held in Air France v. Saks, 470 U.S. 392 (1985), that the injury must come from an unexpected or unusual event external to the passenger, not from the passenger's own reaction to normal flight.
• The first liability tier: Up to 151,880 Special Drawing Rights, Article 21(1) bars the airline from excluding or limiting its liability. The figure was raised in 2024 under the treaty's five-year review in Article 24.
• Damages above that tier: Article 21(2) lets the airline avoid the excess only by proving the damage was not caused by its own negligence, or was caused solely by a third party.
• The passenger's own conduct: Article 20 reduces or removes the airline's liability to the extent the injured person's negligence caused or contributed to the damage, including within the first tier.
• Filing deadline: Article 35 extinguishes the right to damages unless suit is filed within two years of arrival at the destination, the scheduled arrival, or the date the trip stopped.
• Where to file: Article 33 allows suit where the airline is domiciled or has its principal place of business, where the ticket was bought through its office, at the destination, or for injury, in some cases where the passenger lives.
• No punitive damages: Article 29 bars punitive, exemplary, and other non-compensatory damages on any claim the treaty governs.

The experienced airline injury attorneys at Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada represent passengers and families from the firm's Miami office, including travelers hurt on flights all over the world including into and out of Miami International Airport and across South Florida.

When a passenger is hurt on an international trip, a treaty decides what the airline owes, and its rules do not look like an ordinary Florida negligence case. The airline can owe damages without anyone proving it was careless, but only if the injury came from an "accident" as courts define that word, and only if suit is filed within two years. Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada has represented thousands of injured people across Miami-Dade and South Florida since 1976. Airline passenger claims are part of our Miami personal injury practice, and we handle them on the same contingency terms as a car crash or a fall.

International carriage is the treaty's term for a trip whose ticketed departure and destination sit in two countries that are parties to the Montreal Convention, or in one party country with an agreed stopping place in another country. Article 1(2) of the Convention defines it that way and adds that a break in the journey or a change of planes does not alter the result. Article 1(3) treats a trip flown by several airlines as one undivided carriage when the parties regarded it as a single operation, so a domestic leg booked as part of an international itinerary stays inside the treaty. A round trip from Miami to Bogotá and back is international carriage on both legs. A flight from Orlando to Miami booked by itself is not. Article 29 then makes the treaty the only route to damages on a covered trip, whether the claim is framed in contract, in tort, or otherwise.

A purely domestic trip is outside the treaty, and the claim is decided under other law. Where Florida negligence law governs such a claim, Florida Statute § 95.11(5)(a) gives two years from the injury to file, for causes accruing after March 24, 2023.

An accident under the treaty is an unexpected or unusual event or happening that is external to the passenger. The U.S. Supreme Court set that test in Air France v. Saks, 470 U.S. 392 (1985), a case about hearing loss during a normal descent, and held there was no accident where the injury came from the passenger's own internal reaction to the usual, normal, and expected operation of the aircraft. The Court said the definition should be applied flexibly, after assessing all the circumstances. Saks interpreted the Warsaw Convention, the earlier treaty, and Article 17 of the Montreal Convention uses the same word.

That test shapes how every airline claim gets built. A passenger who falls over a bag left in the aisle, or who is struck by a service cart, can point to an event outside their own body. Airplane slip and fall claims often turn on what was on the floor and who put it there. With turbulence injuries, the question is usually whether the movement of the aircraft was unusual and whether the crew had warned passengers to be seated. Saks itself cited a case holding that sitting in an airline seat during a normal flight, which aggravated a blood-clotting condition, was not an accident.

Article 17 also limits where the accident can happen. It must take place on board the aircraft or in the course of embarking or disembarking. An injury at the check-in counter or in the terminal shops is usually analyzed under other law.

The Montreal Convention sets up two tiers of liability for death or bodily injury, and the line between them is now 151,880 Special Drawing Rights per passenger. Under Article 21(1), the airline cannot exclude or limit its liability for damages up to that figure, so it cannot defend the first tier by proving it was careful. Above it, Article 21(2) lets the airline escape the excess only by proving the damage was not due to its own negligence or that of its employees or agents, or was due solely to a third party's negligence. Article 20 applies to both tiers and reduces the award to the extent the passenger's own negligence contributed. The treaty first set the line at 100,000 and raised it to 128,821 in 2019, and both older figures still appear in published material.

A Special Drawing Right is a unit of account defined by the International Monetary Fund, not a currency anyone carries. Article 23 converts the figure into dollars at its value on the date of judgment, so the dollar amount of the first tier moves with exchange rates. The 2024 figure came from the five-year inflation review in Article 24.

Within those tiers, the airline owes compensatory damages for the death or bodily injury, such as the cost of medical treatment, lost income, and future care. When a passenger dies, Article 29 leaves the question of who may sue, and what each of them may recover, to other law. Fatal airline accident claims therefore combine the treaty's liability rules with the law that defines the family's rights.

We advance the costs of an airline claim, and Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada has recovered more than $220 million for injured clients and their families since 1976. In a fatal case, our Florida wrongful death attorneys work out which survivors may recover under the law that Article 29 leaves in place.

Article 35(1) extinguishes the right to damages if suit is not brought within two years of the date of arrival at the destination, the date the aircraft ought to have arrived, or the date the carriage stopped. Article 35(2) leaves the method of counting that period to the law of the court hearing the case. A demand letter to the airline is not a lawsuit.

Article 33(1) lets the injured passenger choose among four courts in a country that is a party to the treaty. Those are the court of the airline's domicile, its principal place of business, the place of business through which the ticket was bought, and the place of destination. Article 33(2) adds a fifth option for death or injury, which is the country of the passenger's principal and permanent residence at the time of the accident. That option applies only if the airline operates passenger service to or from that country and conducts that business from premises it or a partner airline leases or owns.

Where several airlines share one trip, Article 36(2) generally limits the claim to the airline that performed the leg on which the accident happened. The exception is where the first carrier expressly agreed to answer for the whole journey. Identifying the operating carrier, not just the airline named on the ticket, is part of filing against the right defendant.

The itinerary is the first piece of evidence in an airline case, since whether the treaty applies at all is read from it. The e-ticket receipt, the booking confirmation, and the boarding passes show the agreed departure, destination, and stops under Article 1(2). They also show the arrival date that starts the two-year period under Article 35, and the operating carrier for each leg.

Proof of the accident itself comes mostly from the cabin. The crew may prepare an incident report, and its timing and wording carry weight. Seat assignments identify who was nearby, and the names of seatmates and crew are often the only witnesses. In a turbulence case, the timing of the seatbelt sign and any crew announcement bear on whether the movement was unexpected and whether the passenger's conduct contributed under Article 20. Photographs of a spilled substance, a fallen bag, or a damaged seat fix the external event that Saks requires.

Medical records complete the file. Treatment received at the arrival airport or soon after landing ties the injury to the flight. Later records establish its extent, including any damages above the first tier of 151,880 Special Drawing Rights.

We start with the ticket. Before anything else, we work out whether the trip was international carriage, which carrier operated the leg where the injury happened, and which courts Article 33 makes available. Those three answers decide which law applies, who the defendant is, and where the case can be filed. We then fix the arrival date and calendar the Article 35 deadline from it.

Next we build the accident. We request the crew's incident report, identify the passengers seated nearby, and collect the medical records from the first treatment onward. Where the damages may exceed the first tier, we prepare for the airline's argument under Article 21(2) that it was not negligent. We handle these claims on contingency, so you pay no fee unless we recover, and we speak with clients in many languages including English, Spanish, and Creole.

A few steps are worth taking before you leave the airport. Tell a flight attendant before you leave the aircraft, and ask that an incident report be written. Write down the flight number, your seat, the time, and the names of the crew members and passengers who saw what happened. Photograph whatever caused the injury, whether it was a bag, a cart, a wet floor, or a broken armrest.

Keep your boarding passes, e-ticket receipt, and baggage tags, since they prove the itinerary. Get medical care at the arrival airport or as soon as possible after landing, and tell the provider the injury happened on the flight. Do not sign a release or accept a travel voucher in exchange for one before you understand what you are giving up. Count two years from your arrival date and treat it as a hard limit.

• Injuries from sudden plane movements are measured against the same external-event test, which separates an unusual jolt from the ordinary motion of a flight.
• Premises liability claims can cover an injury in the terminal, before boarding begins, where the treaty's embarking and disembarking language may not reach.
• Airline and airport worker injuries usually proceed under workers' compensation rather than the passenger treaty, since the injured person was on the job.

Friedman Rodman Frank & Estrada represents passengers hurt on flights into and out of many airports, and the first thing we look at is your itinerary, since it decides which rules apply and when the two-year period began. Call (877) 448-8585 and we can go over the ticket with you, or schedule a free consultation with our airline injury attorneys. There is no fee unless we recover, and we speak English, Spanish, and Creole.