Cite as: 525 U. S. 155 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
The Court of Appeals reversed in relevant part. See 122 F. 3d 99 (CA2 1997).8 The Second Circuit concluded first that no "accident" within Article 17's compass had occurred; in the Court of Appeals' view, the Convention drafters did not "ai[m] to impose close to absolute liability" for an individual's "personal reaction" to "routine operating procedures," measures that, although "inconvenien[t] and embarass[ing]," are the "price passengers pay for . . . airline safety." Id., at 103-104.9 In some tension with that reasoning, the Second
8 The Court of Appeals affirmed, without discussion, the District Court's judgment in favor of Tseng on her claim, under the Warsaw Convention, for damage to her baggage. See 122 F. 3d, at 108. We denied El Al's petition for certiorari regarding that issue. See 523 U. S. 1117 (1998).
9 An "accident" under Article 17 is "an unexpected or unusual event or happening that is external to the passenger." Saks, 470 U. S., at 405. That definition, we have cautioned, should "be flexibly applied after assessment of all the circumstances surrounding a passenger's injuries." Ibid.
The District Court, "[u]sing the flexible application prescribed by the Supreme Court," concluded that El Al's search of Tseng was an "accident": "[A] routine search, applied erroneously to plaintiff in the course of embarking on the aircraft, is fairly accurately characterized as an accident." 919 F. Supp. 155, 158 (SDNY 1996).
The Court of Appeals disagreed. That court described security searches as "routine" in international air travel, part of a terrorism-prevention effort that is "widely recognized and encouraged in the law," and "the price passengers pay for the degree of airline safety so far afforded them." 122 F. 3d, at 103. The court observed that passengers reasonably should be aware of "routine operating procedures" of the kind El Al conducts daily. Ibid. The risk of mistakes, i. e., that innocent persons will be erroneously searched, is "[i]nherent in any effort to detect malefactors," the court explained. Ibid. Tseng thus encountered "ordi-nary events and procedures of air transportation," the court concluded, and not "an unexpected or unusual event." Id., at 104.
It is questionable whether the Court of Appeals "flexibly applied" the definition of "accident" we set forth in Saks. Both parties, however, now accept the Court of Appeals' disposition of that issue. In any event, even if El Al's search of Tseng was an "accident," the core question of the Convention's exclusivity would remain. The Convention provides for compensation under Article 17 only when the passenger suffers "death, physical injury, or physical manifestation of injury," Eastern Airlines,
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