The power of airlines vis-à-vis the small customer allows them to act unilaterally that can ruin a carefully planned vacation and cause passengers great distress.
However, any such crime carries with it the appropriate penalty, especially when it comes to a company that also adds to it the sin of poor customer service. Eight months after cancelling a flight on the last day without any offer of an alternative flight, the court ruled that Wizz Air would compensate two passengers for NIS 10,000, in addition to court costs.
According to the lawsuit, last September, a Wizz Air flight from Ben-Gurion Airport to Gatwick in London was canceled, in which, among other things, two passengers intended to fly for a two-week trip to London and Scotland.
Did not offer alternative flights
When the flight was cancelled, the defendant did not offer the plaintiffs alternative flights, and did not respond to any attempt by them to contact her. The plaintiffs tried throughout the evening and night to locate a representative of the company in order to clarify the reason for the cancellation and receive assistance with alternatives, but to no avail, since no representative on its behalf responded to their inquiries.
The two managed to find an alternative flight, but it was more expensive and also cost them the loss of two days in London, including money they paid for a hotel. Only more than two months later, the company returned the amount paid to the plaintiffs, but without any compensation for the poor service.
In its defense, Wizz Air argued that the coronavirus pandemic created a shortage of manpower at the airlines. She added that she argued that the plaintiffs were not entitled to compensation.
The company's claims were rejected by the court, which noted that the incident in which the company conducted itself in a disgraceful and disrespectful manner occurred in September 2022, so its claims of a lack of manpower due to the COVID-<> pandemic are not accepted.
"To the extent that the defendant has a shortage of manpower that does not allow it to meet its tasks, it will honor and reduce the number of flights it operates to match the existing personnel," the ruling said.
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