Limitation of Actions and Air Passenger Rights in Thailand: Importing the Law but Leaving Judicial Reasoning Behind

This article comparatively analyses limitations regarding the submission of passenger claims in Thailand and the EU. Thailand transposed EU Regulation 261/2004 on denied boarding, delay and cancellation of flights into its national law. Since EU Regulation 261/2004 does not contain any provision referring to a statute of limitations for legal actions, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) found that the limitation period was governed, and continues to be governed, by the domestic law of each Member State, as opposed to the Montreal Convention of 1999 which prescribes a single standard for limitation period. Despite importing this piece of secondary EU legislation, the Thai judicial branch has, so far, not followed the said CJEU judgment. The Thai court selected the twoyear limitation period under its domestic law which implemented the Montreal Convention of 1999. Since this lack of harmonization does not benefit the orderly development of international civil aviation, this author suggests that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) should take action.