{"id":402907,"date":"2026-04-21T05:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T05:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/402907\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T05:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T05:34:11","slug":"israeli-airlines-accused-of-reselling-stranded-customers-seats-for-wartime-windfall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/402907\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli airlines accused of reselling stranded customers’ seats for wartime windfall"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

Under Israel\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

At the same time, customers who were offered the opportunity to rebook said the airlines\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat 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,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

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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 \u2014 not necessarily enough to cover the cost of a new ticket.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tAn El Al plane takes off at Ben Gurion International Airport, outside of Tel Aviv, March 5, 2026. (Yossi Aloni\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

\u201cAirlines are not entitled to decide unilaterally that they are going to refund passengers for canceled flights,\u201d said David Sprecher, head of the Aviation and Defense Tech Practice at law firm Lipa & Co. \u201cThe passenger is entitled to decide what he or she wants, which is either a rebooking to the final destination or a refund.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The price was more than double what Arkia normally charges for the route \u2014 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\u2019t protect Goldstein from being stranded herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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,\u201d Goldstein recounted. \u201cThe next morning as I was feeling nervous about needing to leave, I went back to Arkia\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tDavid Sprecher, Head of Aviation and Defense Tech Practice at Lipa & Co law offices. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n

Others told of paying up to $1,800 for tickets to New York that normally go for $749.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are profiting from the situation as they are reselling tickets to people who are willing to pay more,\u201d Goldstein said.<\/p>\n

The allegation is not a new one. In previous periods of air traffic restrictions at Ben Gurion Airport, including during the 12-day Iran war in 2025, Arkia and other Israeli airlines, including Air Haifa, were accused<\/a> of allegedly misleading customers into accepting refunds for flight cancellations and then selling new tickets at exorbitant prices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat has been happening, that they say they are sorry that they have no other flights available, and just give money back, has been going on for years,\u201d said Adam Levin, founding partner at Rapoport Levin \u2013 Law Offices. \u201cA lot of times, they will decide, based on their own calculation, whether to provide a more expensive flight or sell it to someone else.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly, when they have seats that they are selling, they are not upholding their end of the bargain, and they are not enforcing the law as it\u2019s supposed to be enforced,\u201d said Levin.<\/p>\n

Levin represents plaintiffs in an ongoing class action suit against Arkia, who experienced flight disruptions during the Hamas war and in June 2025 because of the fighting with Iran.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to argue that the same thing is happening again over the past month,\u201d said Levin. \u201cArkia does not have a policy, and they do whatever they want at any given point in time, and generally speaking, they don\u2019t give customers the option of an alternative flight.\u201d<\/p>\n

He noted that some of those buying tickets at the higher prices were the same customers whose previous flights were canceled, though airlines should pay the difference when customers have to shell out more for the same product.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIllustrative: Passengers at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, April 9, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Arkia said in response that it \u201chas been operating around the clock in order to return its customers, along with thousands of other Israelis, to Israel, and was among the first airlines to create alternative and creative solutions in a complex reality. Arkia customers whose flights were canceled received a full refund, and in cases where alternative or rescue flights were operated from the relevant destinations, they were given priority in allocation and were assigned first, without any additional charge for the rescue flights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israir was unable to provide a response by publication time.<\/p>\n

Unanswered calls<\/p>\n

Unlike Arkia and Israir, flag carrier El Al has been offering customers whose flights have been canceled either a full refund or a credit voucher for future travel, while promising to allocate seats on available flights to passengers holding an existing El Al ticket before offering it to others.<\/p>\n

David Levendovics, 20, was stranded in Budapest when his flight back to Tel Aviv was canceled. He said he desperately tried to reach El Al\u2019s WhatsApp chatbot customer service support system for days to be rebooked on a flight that would allow him to fly back to Israel ahead of his enlistment in the Israel Defense Forces on May 5.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my original flight became available again, I repeatedly contacted customer service and received an automatic message that they are working on reassignments, prioritizing El Al ticketholders before starting to sell new tickets, and will reach out to me soon, and there is no need to contact customer service again,\u201d said Levendovics. \u201cWell, it somehow didn\u2019t happen because all the tickets I saw available online at a much higher price were sold before they finally reassigned me on a later date, after a several-day process.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tDavid Levendovics as he made aliyah from Budapest in August, 2025. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n

Levendovics, who moved to Israel in August, said that he had booked travel on El Al despite the significantly higher price, as he trusted that the Israeli carrier would provide reliable support in emergency situations \u2014 especially as someone about to serve in the IDF as a lone soldier.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, I found myself without meaningful assistance, unable to reach a human representative at customer service for days, and ultimately losing the ability to travel on my originally booked flight,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

An El Al spokesperson responded that the sheer volume of customer service requests \u2014 as many as tens of thousands per day \u2014 led them to use WhatsApp to more efficiently handle the deluge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn order to provide the broadest possible real-time response, the company focused on the WhatsApp channel, which enables representatives to handle multiple inquiries simultaneously and significantly expand service availability,\u201d the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThroughout the entire period, assisting customers whose flights were canceled remained the highest priority, and no new ticket sales from Israel were opened until the handling of these customers had been completed,\u201d it added. \u201cWe are aware that some customers experienced long waiting times and uncertainty, and we apologize for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

When war erupted on February 28, Israel initially closed its airspace to civilian traffic completely, forcing all airlines with routes serving the country to cancel. After a week, it eased restrictions, though operations were still at only a fifth of pre-war levels, and only Israeli airlines were authorized to operate.<\/p>\n

At Ben Gurion Airport, takeoffs and landings were limited to one plane per hour, and outbound flights were capped at 100 people on board. The restrictions meant that only a small fraction of ticketed customers could actually get on planes. Despite continuing to sell tickets, Israeli airlines, including Arkia and Israir, were also promising customers to find alternative solutions, including attempting to operate flights out of airports in Taba, Egypt, and Aqaba, Jordan, both of which are near land crossings into Israel.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tPeople surround a check-in counter at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, March 9, 2026. (Screen capture: X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)<\/p>\n

Sprecher, who was a legal adviser formulating the Israeli Aviation Law back in 2012, said passengers had a right to insist on being \u201crerouted to any destination, and from there, [being put on] local flights to their final destination.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goldstein said when she was unable to reach a human at Arkia, she decided to go to the airport on the day she was supposed to take off, to try to get a spot on the flight. There she found others in the same boat or worse, she recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the check-in counter, I was told that I didn\u2019t have a seat as it was canceled, and that they can\u2019t answer questions or help me as they don\u2019t actually work for Arkia,\u201d said Goldstein. \u201cThere were at least 20 of us there in a similar situation: some people said they were never notified of a flight cancellation, and others had just received information about it a few hours ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arkia said in response that its \u201cservice centers operated around the clock throughout the entire period and handled tens of thousands of inquiries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe service teams did everything in their power to provide a prompt and comprehensive response,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

Trying to get onto the same flight as Goldstein was a young couple and their 2-year-old from Beit Shemesh, who were trying to make their way to New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter our original flights with Iberia and El Al were cancelled because of the war and we were eager to be with our family in New Jersey for the Passover holiday, we managed to buy seats for the three of us for $1,800 each one-way to New York with Arkia booked through a reputable travel agency,\u201d said the mom, a 26-year-old immigrant from the US who preferred to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tIllustrative: Passengers at Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, April 9, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Ahead of the departure, they tried numerous times via the airline\u2019s WhatsApp customer service channel to get information about whether their flight was leaving as scheduled but without any success and without an option to speak to a human representative.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided to arrive at the airport around 8 hours before departure time, to be extra safe and to be the first in line, only to be told that our reservation booked through a travel agency was cancelled and that there is no one to talk to,\u201d said the mom. \u201cIt was just a brutal, awful, and unpleasant experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

She recalled that at the airport, a family with five kids mentioned to them that they had booked their ticket on the same flight the night before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were let on the flight,\u201d she said, \u201cwhile others like us were refused.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Heavy restrictions on flights in and out of Israel during the war voided the plans of tens of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[190507,23915,69767,37186,153136,85,46,190639,69793,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-402907","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-2026-us-israel-war-with-iran","9":"tag-air-travel","10":"tag-arkia","11":"tag-ben-gurion-airport","12":"tag-el-al-israel-airlines","13":"tag-il","14":"tag-israel","15":"tag-israeli-airspace","16":"tag-israir","17":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}