United Airlines Sued due to Tel Aviv Flight Disruption
Earlier this month, one of the United Airlines flight from Newark (EWR) to Tel Aviv (TLV) was delayed. The airline has now had a lawsuit filed against it worth $50,000 because of that flight.
Flight delay and lawsuit
Flight UA84 had been scheduled to leave on August 6th at 16:25, but had been delayed until the next day at 7:00.
According to United Airlines, the delay had occurred because of a curfew at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
However, passengers had not been informed of any such curfew at the time of the flight. The announcement from the gate agent said that pilots were refusing to take the flight.
One of the passengers posted this on Twitter. Ilganayev Law firm’s Migir Ilganayev has filed a lawsuit against United Airlines on behalf of the plaintiff.
A number of charges have been filed against United Airlines, including breach of contract, fraud and negligence.
According to the summons, the airline committed deceit and fraud against the plaintiff and other passengers as its crew was not willing to do its job.
In addition, the airline deliberately lied about the reason for the delay.
Cause of the delay
After the delay, United Airlines cited curfew as the reason for the delay, which was also mentioned on its website.
But, a spokesperson at the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv said that there had not been a curfew at all.
Moreover, when the plaintiff had gotten in touch with United Airlines, they were told that bad weather in the area resulted in cancellation.
Later, the airline said that it was a maintenance issue that resulted in the delay and then the curfew was given as the final reason.
It is possible that the flight crew may have refused to operate the flight because of security concerns associated with the conflict between Palestine and Israel, which had flared up around that time.
No compensation for passengers
A $40 meal voucher was given to a number of passengers by United Airlines when the flight was delayed.
According to their website, they do not provide free hotel stays if there is a delay due to factors outside of the airline’s control.
This has resulted in accusations against the airline for blaming it on a curfew because this means it would not have to compensate its customers.
The summons said that the airline did not want to be honest with its passengers about the reason for the delay.
This is because if the delay was because of the pilot’s refusal, then the airline would be liable to its passengers.
Amongst the three big airlines in the United States, United Airlines is the one that has the biggest presence in Tel Aviv.
It offers flights from Washington-Dulles, Newark, Chicago-O’Hare and San Francisco. The Newark flight UA84 takes off daily via the Boeing 787-10 aircraft.
The other two airlines that take flights to Tel Aviv are American Airlines and Delta Airlines, with the former operating from Miami and New York JFK and the latter from New York JFK and Boston.
