United Airlines initially said its flight to Israel on August 6 was delayed due to a curfew in Tel Aviv, but no such curfew existed.
United Airlines is being sued for $50,000 over the cancellation of a flight from Newark to Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel due to a alleged curfew in Tel Aviv on incoming flights.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the plaintiff by Migir Ilganayev of the Ilganayev Law Firm, accused United Airlines of a number of charges ranging from fraud, breach of contract, negligence and more.
The summons was filed against United on August 26 under penalty of judgment requiring the airline to pay out $50,000 with interest and legal fees.
“[United] committed fraud and deceit against Plaintiff and all other passengers when its crew refused to perform their job, and United deliberately, and knowingly lied about the reason for its delay,” the summons states.
Background: Why did United Airlines cancel a flight to Israel?
On August 6, United Airlines flight 84 (UA84) from Newark Airport in New Jersey to Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel was suddenly canceled, set to be delayed 24 hours.
At first, the reason seemed to be that the plane’s pilots refused to fly to Israel, as evidenced by footage of the announcement at the gate shared on social media by delayed passenger Gil Eyal.
Curfew? Not what the crew said. pic.twitter.com/KmoMP9p78E
— Gil Eyal (@gileyal) August 7, 2022
Later, United Airlines informed passengers that the delay was due to a curfew in Tel Aviv that restricted planes from landing. This was further confirmed as the reason for the delay by statements on United’s website.
This curfew would have come amid the IDF’s Operation Breaking Dawn, the most recent round of fighting between Israel and Palestinian terrorist groups in the Gaza Strip. This operation saw rockets fired by Palestinian Islamic Jihad into Israel, including in the Tel Aviv area.
However, despite this and United’s claims, there was no such curfew in place in Tel Aviv. This was further confirmed by a Jerusalem Post press query to Ben-Gurion Airport, who said: “There is no curfew. At all.”
Responding to a Post press query, United said the delay was due to a maintenance issue, despite the prior statements on the website that it was due to a curfew.
Another reason was also given to the plaintiff by United customer service, who said it was due to thunderstorms and bad weather, though weather forecasts didn’t indicate any of this. He was then later told it was a maintenance issue before being told it was due to a curfew.
Forced to find other means of going to Israel, the plaintiff was forced to book a flight to Israel with El Al out of pocket for $769.80, as did some other passengers, as noted in the court summons.
However, the plaintiff, like many other passengers, was denied access to their luggage, and they would have to board another United Airlines flight to Israel set for a few hours later that day. Despite being warned of a probable delay due to this reported curfew, the flight would take off without issue.
As noted to the Post by other passengers on board the flight, United provided little to no support during this entire ordeal and did not provide any compensation barring a $40 meal voucher. They also reportedly denied offering accommodations to the stranded passengers, though United disputes this and claims they did.
So why did United claim there was a curfew?
One allegation brought against United to explain the reason for the claim of a supposed curfew in Tel Aviv is that it would have made them not liable for compensation to the passengers.
“Clearly, United did not want to be honest with its passengers that the flight was delayed due to the pilot’s refusal to fly because that would leave them solely liable to all of their passengers,” the summons said.
According to United’s policy, they do not offer compensation or accommodations for flights that are delayed for reasons outside their control.
The Post has reached out to United for comment on the summons.
As reported by The Jerusalem Post