TF- subcharter; whose insurance am I on ?
 

Just wondering, in cases like the 757 substitution on BMI's Manchester to Washington service, or the longer term 747 arrangement between Air Atlanta and Iberia, or even when my UK holiday charter airline gets a TF- substitute for the day, whose insurance am I on when flying with them ?

Dealing with a home country airline is one thing. Dealing with one in a country few have ever visited and whose laws, liability limits and precedents are unknown to almost all UK lawyers is quite another.

WHBM

I'm not a lawyer, so take this with a pinch of salt.

I'd have thought that if your carrier substitutes the flight, then they still carry the insurance liability for you.

However, don't bank on this view :-)

F3G

Thank you. However I wonder how straightforward it is for an operator to arrange passenger insurance on an aircraft they don't have under their control or on a type they don't even have on their AOC. And does the "I" bit of ACMI mean they have passed the passenger insurance over to someone else as well ?

Any subchartered aircraft should be covered by the insurance of the airline whose flightnumber it carries.

In practice, the carrier operating the subcharter /wetlease is added (as additional insured) to the insurance certificate of the airline they are operating on behalf of. This means the operating airline is covered under that policy.

Both airlines need this to happen -
- the operating airline could find themselves being sued (and without insurance cover) if something happens.
- the airline providing the flightnumber faces serious sanctions if they allow a flight to operate (effectively) without insurance cover.

In my experience, even the 'dodgy-est' airlines are very careful to make sure all the insurance arrangements are in order.

Being a little pessimistic aren't you?

Penned your complaint letter before you've even left home?