Israel Matzav

Heh.... European arilines cancel flytilla tickets

Lufthansa, Air France and British low-cost carrier Jet2.com have canceled tickets issued to 'flytilla' 'activists' who appeared on a list sent to them by Israel indicating that they would not be allowed to disembark. Of course, al-Guardian is reporting the story as Israel 'forcing' the airlines to cancel the tickets, but the airlines could bring the 'activists' if the airlines were to pay a fine and transport them back. Obviously, the airlines have decided that they have better ways than that to increase shareholder returns.

Israel has forced low-cost airline Jet2.com to cancel the tickets of three women from Manchester intending to travel to Bethlehem via Tel Aviv this weekend for a gathering of pro-Palestinian activists.

Jet2.com informed the women by email that the airline would refuse to carry them and no refund would be paid. The move follows pressure on airlines from Israel to ban known activists.

One of the women, retired nurse Norma Turner, said Jet2.com had caved in to pressure. "It never crossed my mind that Israel could stop people with British passports leaving British airports," she told the Guardian.

...

Jet2.com's decision followed a similar move by the German carrier Lufthansa, which cancelled the tickets of dozens of activists on Thursday, saying it was complying with Israel's demand not to fly certain passengers to Tel Aviv. Other airlines are expected to follow suit.

In an email sent to the three women, Jet2.com said it had been obliged to provide the Israeli authorities passengers' names, dates of birth, passport numbers and nationalities.

"As a result of providing that information, Jet2.com has been informed by the Israeli authorities that you will not be not permitted to enter Israel. Consequently, if Jet2.com carries you to Israel, you will be refused entry and Jet2.com will be liable for both a fine and your return to Manchester," the email said.

"We regret that, in light of the decision taken by the Israeli authorities, we are unable to accept you for carriage to Israel on this occasion and your booking with Jet2.com has been cancelled."

The airline apologised and said the cancellation was "totally beyond our control" but said the passengers would not be reimbursed.

...

Turner said she would seek legal advice on Jet2.com's move. "I think the airline should honour its commitment. We had checked in, and we have our boarding passes.

"Every country has the right to control its own borders. But to stop us leaving British shores just shows the extent of Israel's power and influence."

Hey - Israel didn't force Jet2 not to refund their money. But you really cannot blame the airline for refusing to incur a fine to bring these nutjobs here.

On Thursday, Lufthansa canceled 'dozens' of tickets.

Lufthansa German Airlines canceled the tickets of dozens of passengers, #Airflotilla2 website reported Friday.

The pro-Palestinian website uploaded a scanned image of one of the canceled tickets that a passenger had received, and reported that the same notification had been sent to dozens of activists on Thursday, informing them that their reservation had been canceled "by order of Israel."

#Airflotilla2 is an online campaign supporting “Welcome to Palestine 2012,” the umbrella organization overseeing the initiative.

According to the campaign organizers, Lufthansa informed the passengers that "Israel produced a list of names of persons to whom this country denies entry," and that their names were on the list. Campaigners said that those who had received the notifications would show up at their respective airports as scheduled to board flights to Tel Aviv.

The Germans know how to deal with that stuff. Heh.

And then there's Air France, which notified Canadian 'activist' Julie LaChapelle that she would not be allowed to board a flight to Israel.

Air France probably has some more we don't know about yet. They had hundreds last year (as did Malev, which has since gone bankrupt).

Heh.

Labels: Ben Gurion Airport, flytilla

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:51 PM