A couple from Kiryat Ata filed a NIS 10,000 lawsuit against the Israir company to the Small Claims Court in Kiryat, claiming that it required them to get a new passport at the airport, even though the old one was perfectly fine. Due to the delay in issuing a passport, they were also forced to take another flight, causing heartache and unnecessary expenses.
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The flight attendant refused to allow the plaintiffs to board the plane
(Photo: shutterstock)
The couple booked a flight to Batumi in January of this year. They arrived 4 hours before the flight time, and presented the clerk with their passports. In the lawsuit, they claim: “There was a slightly wrinkled page. I asked the clerk to be careful, because of the wrinkled page. With this passport, we had been in Athens two days before. She said that the manager’s permission was needed, and sent me to the end of the counter.”
According to the prosecutors, the manager checked the passport and told them everything was fine. They returned to the line and received boarding passes, passed the gate, but on the way to the plane, the same ground stewardess overtook them, and refused to allow them to board the plane. According to them, the security guard who was there told them that for him there is no problem with the passport.
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The invalidated passport
(Photo: Private)
“The clerk did ‘exactly’ and demanded that a new passport be made. All the passengers of the flight shouted, ‘He has a boarding pass, let him board’. She insisted that a new passport be made, even though the passport was in order.”
According to the prosecutors, a manager who arrived at the scene even promised that the plane would wait. Another clerk accompanied them to make a new passport. “The Interior Ministry clerk demanded NIS 1,173, because she claimed the passport was corrupted. After we told her what happened, she suggested we sue.”
Despite the promise that the plane would wait, it did not wait and took off. “Screaming started, the manager wanted to get us out of the terminal, and even brought the police. Only after a while, an Israir representative came and heard the turn of events, and promised to check.”
In the end, it was suggested that they get on another flight, to another city in Georgia, and from there go to Batumi at their own expense. The company refused to finance transfers and food for that day. “They charged us 250 dollars, a six-hour drive from Tbilisi. We drove all night, snow, terrible cold. We suffered injustice, heartache and unnecessary expenses.”
The couple requests that the court obligate Israir to pay the unnecessary expenses they had and for the sick days, a total of NIS 10,000.
Mishrayer stated that the matter is under legal treatment.
First published: 08:13, 16.02.23