Israel Flight advice

Your Flights to/from Israel were cancelled. What should you do?

With the evolving security situation in Israel, many flights are being cancelled. Here are a few important things to know about your passenger rights.

Any flight departing or arriving in Israel is subject to Israel Aviation Services Law 2012.

Many flights departing or arriving in the EU or the UK are subject to other regulations as well as the Israeli regulation, and it is up to you to choose under which regulation you wish to claim. 

This article will inform you of some basic rights you have under the Israeli regulation.

 

Alternative flights:

If your flight was cancelled, regardless of the reason for the disruption, the airline which was scheduled to operate your flight, must legally offer you an alternative flight to your final destination. 

Where the airline is unable to offer you alternative flights, you have a choice between the following 3 options:

• • Request a full refund of any sections that you are not traveling as a result of the cancellation. or

• • Reschedule with your airline to another date of your choice. or

• Book your own alternative flight, including connections, trains, taxi, and other means of transport and later claim reimbursement of all expenses.

 

Important points about Booking your own Alternative flights:

• • The airline must reimburse your alternative flights even if your flight was cancelled more than 14 days in advance. And even if your alternative flights were more expensive. 

• • Before booking your own alternative flights, you should contact the airline and confirm that they are unable to rebook you from their side – you should record the conversation (you may want to use online chat rather than phone for this reason – you should copy and paste the chat or take screenshots).

• • Your alternative flight should be comparable to your original in the travel class. It should also be for similar airports and dates (but small differences in date or airport do not matter). 

• • You should retain all evidence relating to your alternative transport arrangements such as invoices, boarding passes, baggage tags etc. 

• • Many airlines may mis-inform you about your rights and tell you that you are not entitled to alternative flights. You dont need to pay attention to this.

Important: If you ask the airline for a refund of your disrupted flight, you will no longer be entitled to claim reimbursment of your alternatives.

For further information, please refer to the wording of the regulation

 

How to claim?

If you choose to claim yourself, you should include all relevant information in your claim notice. 

Indicate that you wish to claim in accordance with Israel Aviation Services law and that the airline must respond within 45 days. 

Send the claim to the operating carrier (e.g. if you booked a Swiss flight via the Lufthansa website, you should send your claim to Swiss not Lufthansa)

While it is possible to claim the expenses yourself, in many cases airlines make it difficult and refuse to provide you with your legal rights. 

You should be prepared to pursue the case in court.

If your claim is for an amount of more than $1000 (GBP 800) , We are here to help!

In many cases we may be able to claim for you not just the actual cost of your alternative flights, but also extra penalty compensation of up to ILS 11,540 per passenger in cases where the airline refuses to pay you what they should.

You can reach out to us anytime via our dedicated online claim form and we will take care of the claim for you. 

Our service is provided 20% no win no fee. For the full rules are governed by our term and conditions.