Times Travel (UK) v Pakistan International Airlines Corporation [2021] 3 WLR 727

Facts: Times Travel was a a small, family-owned travel agency which sold tickets for flights to Pakistan under a contract with Pakistan International Airlines. PIAC owed unpaid commissions to TT. PIAC exercised its right to terminate the existing contract with TT and sent terms of re-appointment under a new contract, with a provision that TT agreed to waive its right to claim for any unpaid commissions arising from the original contract. Before the new contract with TT was signed, PIAC reduced TT’s ticket allocation from 300 to 60, which it was contractually entitled to do. It then advised TT that the original ticket allocation would be restored if it agreed to enter into the new contract. Facing the closure of its business, TT signed the new contract.

Held: The threat that the original ticket allocation would not be restored without the waiver was lawful. It did not rise to illegitimate pressure. Use of economic power is not economic duress. Duress requires the economic pressure to rise to the level that it is morally unconscionable.