Seafire
You are absolutely correct the Warsaw Convention did specify liability in French Gold Francs. but it was 125,000 FGF for death or injury. Remember that gold had a fixed price in 1929.
Much case law exists on the equivalency of the FGF since gold was unpegged in the '60s with the general view that the liability limits were not related to the actual price of gold, after the unpegging, but were set in a unit that was easily converted at the time using fixed exchange rates.
If you are interested have a read here:
http://scholarlycommons.law.wlu.edu/...&context=wlulr
MC99 which replaces Warsaw in most countries fix the limits in SDR!
Also note these are limits, or maximums, not standard payouts. You are unlikely to be given the maximum if you break your little toe in a turbulent event.