A request seeking approval for a class-action lawsuit against El Al following Operation Rising Lion was submitted to the Lod Central District Court. The lawsuit alleges that the airline acted improperly toward some of its customers stranded abroad due to flights cancelled beginning on June 13.
The applicant, a lawyer by training, claims in the petition filed Thursday that “after El Al announced the cancellation of its flights and offered its customers to register for evacuation flights, it repeatedly and explicitly committed to automatically schedule its customers on flights according to their original travel dates—and only after all customers whose flights were canceled were placed on evacuation flights, would tickets be sold to the general public."
But, according to the lawsuit, "when it had the opportunity to sell tickets at exorbitant prices, El Al broke its commitment and opened ticket sales to the general public before placing its existing customers on flights. As a result, tens of thousands of customers had to purchase flight tickets independently at inflated prices in order to return home as soon as possible.”
The client claims via attorneys Aharon Topper and Gal Rosenfeld of Topper–Rosenfeld law firm that he purchased an El Al ticket from Boston to Israel for June 26, 2025. His flight was cancelled on June 21, 2025 due to the closure of airspace, and he registered for an evacuation flight per El Al’s instructions. The petition asserts that, upon discovering that the airline had opened ticket sales to the general public in violation of its commitment, he was forced to purchase a new ticket for $2,411 in order to return to Israel on time.
The petition further claims that, in its June 16, 2025 notice of flight cancellations, the airline announced the opening of registration for evacuation flights for affected customers—including those of Sun d’Or—and clarified that the order of registration on the website did not affect priority, which would instead be determined by passengers’ original flight dates. It also stated that exceptional humanitarian cases would be prioritized with appropriate approvals.
The client alleges that “El Al customers who were repeatedly promised that until a solution was found for each of them, they would not have to compete for their seats with new passengers who had not yet purchased canceled tickets, suddenly discovered—without any preparation—that regular El Al flights had been opened for sale to the general public.”
Forced to vacate his apartment
The petitioner claims that on June 25, 2025, while waiting to be placed on an evacuation flight, he was shocked to see on El Al’s Facebook page that ticket sales for regular flights had opened to the public, and that customers who had not yet been placed on evacuation flights had to contact customer service to book alternative flights.
“It should be noted that earlier that day, the petitioner waited for more than two hours for a customer service representative, with no response, in order to find out why he had not been placed on any evacuation flight. Against this backdrop, the petitioner realized that unless he rushed to book tickets for his family on the company’s website, his return to Israel would be significantly delayed—and as a result, he would suffer severe financial damages, given that he had to vacate his apartment by June 30.”
The petitioner further stated that the assumption that delay would lead to no options for return flights proved correct. He claims that he was able to find Boston–Israel tickets on June 29, 2025 for around $650 per ticket—but the transaction failed because El Al’s website crashed, apparently due to high traffic following the airline’s announcement. When the site came back up, only a few premium seats remained on that flight and others that week from Boston, forcing him to pay $2,411 per ticket one-way and a total of $5,048.50 for the entire booking.
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“These are thousands of dollars the petitioner had to pay to avoid the risk of prolonged stay outside Israel. As of the filing of this petition, the petitioner has not been assigned any evacuation flight,” the lawsuit claimed.
El Al responded: “The company will review the petition upon receipt and submit its response to the court as required.”
'Air Haifa misled its customers'
Meanwhile, a request was filed Sunday with the Lod Central District Court for a class-action lawsuit against Air Haifa. The petitioners claim that the airline violated legal requirements regarding its conduct toward customers whose flights were canceled—especially during the war with Iran. Submitted by attorneys Galit Friedman and Ehud Gery, the request asserts that, under the law, customers whose flights are canceled are entitled to choose between two main options: a refund or an alternative flight ticket, at the passenger’s choice.
However, the petitioners claim that “Air Haifa misled its customers, causing them to believe they had only one option—a monetary refund.” They further allege that “Air Haifa unlawfully enriched itself. It sold flight seats that it was required to allocate to the applicant and the group members to ‘new travelers’ who purchased these seats at exorbitantly higher prices than those paid by the group members.”
Air Haifa responded: “This is a spiteful, predictable, and unjustified complaint that does not reflect reality or the company’s efforts during the complex period we all experienced—and that aims to enrich itself unjustly at the expense of the public. Since the outbreak of the war, Air Haifa has acted responsibly and transparently, with great dedication to helping every passenger return home. We initiated placement on evacuation flights ourselves, even without the customer reaching out, all out of a sense of mission and mutual responsibility. In cases where passengers no longer needed the flight, we asked them to notify us so that we could offer the seat to other passengers, sometimes even from other airlines. We will examine the complaint on its merits and respond accordingly by accepted methods.”