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Photo: CD Bank
Cockpit's window was shattered
Photo: CD Bank

20 hours on the terminal floor

Two Israelis sue travel agency after flight from Barcelona to Ben-Gurion airport heads back to Barcelona due to malfunction; travelers claim they were neglected by airline representatives

TEL AVIV - A flight from hell: Two Israelis who were making their way back to Ben-Gurion Airport from a holiday in Barcelona said that due to a malfunction noticed after takeoff, the plane returned to Barcelona Airport, where they were forced to spend 20 hours on the terminal floor.

 

The malfunction caused the cockpit window to shatter, they said.

 

“I was trembling all over,” one of them said during his testimony at Tel Aviv’s Small Claims Court. “The plane was shaking and the frightened passengers were screaming. We didn’t know what was happening.”

 

The Israelis, who filed separate lawsuits against the Tzabar travel agency, said the real ordeal began when they landed safely in Barcelona.

 

They claimed that they were “dumped” in the terminal for hours without their personal belongings, which had been left on the plane.

 

'Clear case of force majeure'

 

Some 12 hours had passed before airport attendants told them they would be able to wait in a hotel until the flight back to Israel would depart, but no one bothered to inform them as to when that would be, they claimed.

 

“I lay on the terminal floor for 20 hours - my gums became swollen; they didn’t allow us to sit on the chairs, they neglected us and caused us distress,” one of the plaintiffs recalled.

 

Tzabar claimed it only served as a liaison between the petitioners and Yossi Tours travel agency, which, according to Tzabar, provided the travel package. Yossi Tours, in turn, added Visig airline company to the lawsuit, saying it is responsible for the incident.

 

Although Visig claimed the incident was a clear case of force majeure and that the airline’s representatives did everything they could to assist the plaintiffs, Judge Michal Barak-Nevo ordered Visig Travel Service to compensate each of the plaintiffs with NIS 800 (about USD 185) plus an additional NIS 300 (about USD 70) for legal expenses.

 

“The carrier did not make it clear to the passengers what was about to happen in order to ease their suffering caused by the unscheduled delay,” she said in her ruling. 

 


פרסום ראשון: 07.10.05, 20:51
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