Heavy restrictions on flights in and out of Israel during the war voided the plans of tens of thousands of people who had purchased tickets to fly to or from Israel for Passover, spring break or any other reason.

Under Israel’s Aviation Services Law, customers whose flights are canceled are entitled to choose between a monetary refund of the full ticket price, or to be rebooked on a flight to their final destination under similar terms, at the earliest possible date and subject to seat availability.

But as they scrambled to find alternative ways in or out of Israel, many of those holding tickets for canceled flights on Israeli airlines said they were offered only a refund, with no opportunity to rebook, alleging that the seats airlines should have been required to reserve for them were instead sold off for significantly higher sums.

At the same time, customers who were offered the opportunity to rebook said the airlines’ unresponsive or non-existent customer service made it nearly impossible to do so, even as the carriers managed to continue efficiently selling tickets at prices massively inflated by the extremely limited supply.

“What to me seems really wrong is that they clearly were selling a few available seats for more money underneath the feet of people whose flights were cancelled,” said Devora Goldstein, who, like other Arkia customers, received an apologetic notification stating that the airline was doing its best to assist, and a notice that she would be getting a refund within 14 business days.

Another airline, Israir, told passengers whose flights were canceled that they could get a full refund, or choose to receive a future credit voucher worth 130% of their ticket price — not necessarily enough to cover the cost of a new ticket.

“Airlines are not entitled to decide unilaterally that they are going to refund passengers for canceled flights,” said David Sprecher, head of the Aviation and Defense Tech Practice at law firm Lipa & Co. “The passenger is entitled to decide what he or she wants, which is either a rebooking to the final destination or a refund.”

Goldstein, who spends her time between Israel and the US and needed to travel for work, had purchased an already pricey $1,700 one-way Arkia ticket to New York online about three weeks into the war with Iran.

The price was more than double what Arkia normally charges for the route — and the seat may have only been available because Arkia had refunded the original ticket-holder the lower original fare, rather than rebooking them on the reinstated flight, ostensibly pocketing the difference. Yet even paying that inflated price didn’t protect Goldstein from being stranded herself.

“I received a notice of the cancelled flight the night before it was scheduled to leave because of new restrictions and there was no offer to rebook,” Goldstein recounted. “The next morning as I was feeling nervous about needing to leave, I went back to Arkia’s website, and suddenly I see that very few seats were being sold for the same flight with the same number and the same departure time, but for a much higher price than I paid.”

Others told of paying up to $1,800 for tickets to New York that normally go for $749.

“They are profiting from the situation as they are reselling tickets to people who are willing to pay more,” Goldstein........

© The Times of Israel