Court overturns compensation award after Israir flight replacement delay

Jerusalem District Court ruled that two passengers whose charter flight was canceled and replaced with another departure 5.5 hours later were not entitled to compensation, and overturned a small-claims ruling that had ordered Israir to pay them about 16,000 shekels plus 5,000 shekels to the state treasury.

Judge Tamar Bar-Asher said the Travel Services Law is not meant to enrich passengers when there is only a change in flight time that does not justify compensation. She stressed that any award must be reasonably related to the actual harm or the value of the transaction, and called the small-claims court result, 21,000 shekels in total, unreasonable and disproportionate given that the tickets cost only 1,190 shekels.

The passengers bought tickets for a charter flight scheduled for September 2025. Because of the security situation, Israir notified them the day before departure that the flight was canceled and they were rebooked on a replacement flight leaving about 5.5 hours later. They chose not to take it, requested cancellation, and received a full refund through the travel agency.

Their small-claims suit sought about 29,000 shekels and won 16,070 shekels in compensation and costs, including 10,000 shekels in exemplary damages and 5,000 shekels to the treasury. The district court accepted Israir’s appeal, holding that under the law a flight is considered canceled only if it does not operate or departs at least eight hours late. Since a replacement was offered within 8 hours, the passengers were not entitled to payment, and the court also questioned the treasury-cost award as reserved for exceptional cases. Despite calling the claim exaggerated and inflated, the court did not order the passengers to pay Israir’s legal costs. One passenger responded that such a ruling encourages the airline not to look after customer interests.