Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air has been ordered by a small claims court in Petah Tikva to pay NIS 7,400 in compensation to a passenger, whom it left stranded in Poland, . The reason why the passenger was left on the ground is unclear. The plaintiff bought tickets for a Wizz Air flight from Warsaw to Tel Aviv for himself and 12 family members. The plaintiff appeared for the flight with his family last October, but remained in Warsaw without getting on the plane.
In his claim against the airline, the plaintiff said that he had come to the boarding gate a long time before the flight. When his turn to board came, he encountered a delay, which he said came from representatives of the airline. Wizz Air staff first demanded that he present his hand luggage for measurement, and then asserted that it was larger than permitted on the plane (he flew with it from Tel Aviv to Warsaw with no problems). Later, after the bag was again checked and found to fulfill the requirements, he was required to pay for a small plastic bag he held. The plaintiff suspected that the airline had decided to victimize him, because other passengers, including his family members, held similar bags, and were permitted to board the flight without payment. At this stage, the passenger suspected that the delay was deliberate.
The airline demanded that the plaintiff pay NIS 25 for the bag - not a charge worth creating a ruckus, as alleged by Wizz Air. He tried to pay for it in dollars, and when this was refused, asked his father for a credit card in order to make the payment. When he presented the credit card to pay for the bag, another representative arrived and said that the boarding gate for the plane had been closed, and that the payment should not be made. The plaintiff found himself stranded in Warsaw with no assistance, food, drink, or lodging, and had to use his own money to pay for a ticket on a flight the next day.
In his claim, the passenger demanded reimbursement for the NIS 2,447 he paid for the ticket he bought, the NIS 2,050 legally prescribed compensation for delay or cancellation of a flight, NIS 375 for his lodging expenses, and NIS 2,500 for exemplary damages, as prescribed by law.
The airline argued that its refusal to fly the passenger was justified. It said that the passenger had refused to pay for excess baggage - the plastic bag - and said, "The plaintiff had only himself and the way he behaved during the event to blame for the situation."
Wizz Air stated that is rules allow boarding a plane only with one handbag of up to 10 kilograms, and that the plaintiff therefore had to pay for the plastic bag. The airline argued that by the time the passenger agreed to pay for the plastic bag, the boarding gate for the plane had been closed.
Wizz Air denied that it had overbooked its flight and every other allegation against it, saying that it had no interest in preventing passengers from boarding the flight; on the contrary, it wants all of its passengers to board the flight in comfort, with no unnecessary arguments or clashes, so that the passengers will use its service in the future as satisfied customers.
Senior Registrar Michal Bar accepted the plaintiff's version. She criticized the absence of a proper report by the airline on the incident concerning the flight. Bar ruled, "There is nothing of substance in the respondent's story to substantiate the claim that the plaintiff offered to pay for the plastic bag only after the boarding gate to the plane had been closed."
Bar also stated that the airline "had illegally refused to fly the passenger for its own reasons," and therefore "was obliged to pay the damage caused to the plaintiff as a result of its refusal… I would like to believe that lack of proper preparation was the reason for the unfortunate result in the matter before us, and no other reason."
The Registrar ordered the respondent to pay for the ticket purchased by the plaintiff, the legally prescribed compensation for a delay, and the cost of his overnight lodgings. She also awarded the plaintiff NIS 1,500 in exemplary damages: a total of NIS 6,402, plus NIS 1,000 in legal expenses.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 22, 2019
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