Civil Case (N) 4843-03-20 Aviram Becker v. El Caspi Case – Supreme Court Israel Airlines Ltd.

Judgment

1. Pending a claim for monetary compensation in the sum of approximately ILS 830,000 for 58 passengers for the cancellation of flight LY 48 departing from JFK Airport in New York to Israel, since the flight was delayed for more than 8 hours, and therefore it is considered a flight that was canceled under the Aviation Services Law (Compensation and Assistance Due to Flight Cancellation or Change in its Conditions), 5772-2012 (hereinafter: the "Aviation Services Law" or the "Law") - This entitles the plaintiffs to the statutory compensation detailed in the first appendix to the law, in addition to the exemplary compensation due to the failure to provide assistance services, as well as reimbursement of expenses incurred for this purpose. On the other hand, the defendant argues for an exemption from payment of statutory compensation, given that the delay caused by a malfunction led to the flight being canceled in order to avoid the desecration of the holiday, and therefore it has the permanent protection under section 6(e)(3) of the Law, as well as an exemption from payment of compensation, for example, due to its compliance with the Provision of Assistance Services Law, and that it did not refuse reimbursement of expenses on the grounds that no request for reimbursement of expenses was submitted in accordance with its instructions, both in real time and upon disembarkation from the aircraft at the moment of landing in Israel.

The Ottoman Settlement [Old Version] 1916The Parties' Claims

2. 12-34-56-78 Chekhov v. State of Israel, P.D.  51 (2)According to what is alleged in the statement of claim, plaintiffs 1-58 (hereinafter: "the plaintiffs"), Israeli citizens, were in New York and planned to return to Israel on the scheduled date in order to celebrate Simchat Torah together with their families.  The original El Al flight was scheduled to take off from JFK Airport to Ben Gurion Airport at 23:35 on October 19, 2019.  However, after all the passengers boarded the plane at 23:30, a malfunction occurred in the loading of the cargo, which did not allow the loading process to be completed and delayed the departure of the plane at the scheduled time.  About two hours later, the flight crew manager announced that the plane would not take off for Israel, and as a result, they had to leave the plane.  According to them, all this without explaining to the passengers the reason for the flight cancellation.  At this point, the passengers were confused and gathered around the check-in counter, where they were clearly told for the first time that the El Al flight was canceled.  During this period, the defendant did indeed search for accommodations for the passengers, but it was unable to obtain accommodations for all the passengers, and therefore most of the passengers were required to take care of themselves for a place to stay late at night, when to the dismay of some of the passengers, they were unable to locate an available hotel and were forced to spend the night on hotel benches.  In addition, according to the claim, the defendant did not provide them with proper means of communication at the time.  We are dealing with a critical point when the law obligates the airline to provide these services.  It was also noted that the hotels in which the defendant housed the passengers were very far from the tourist areas, which made it very difficult to get around without taxis, as well as clouded the plaintiffs' sense of holiday.

Following the canceled flight, a new flight was scheduled for October 21, 2019, after the holiday.  This meant staying in New York for two more days, which resulted in the cancellation of events, meetings, and work days.

3. As for the actual expenses incurred by the plaintiffs, the following amounts were detailed:

Plaintiffs 3-4 Tal and Orit Hava Leibowitz Nowitz: US$1037.11 following taxi and hotel trips.