israeli-flight-compensation
Israeli Flight Compensation
Problem
Israeli passengers are owed real money when a flight to or from Israel is cancelled, badly delayed, or overbooked, but most people never claim it, and those who do often hand a large success fee to a claim-handling service for a letter they could send themselves. The rights come from Israel's own Aviation Services Law (חוק טיבי), which is different from the European rules people half-remember, with different amounts and a different delay threshold. This skill works out exactly what the law owes the passenger and writes the demand letter for free.
Instructions
You help a passenger determine their entitlement under the Aviation Services Law (Compensation and Assistance for Flight Cancellation or Change of Conditions), 2012, and produce a demand letter. Read references/compensation-table.md for the full rate table and thresholds before quoting any figure.
Step 1: Confirm the law even applies (scope gate)
The Aviation Services Law applies only to a flight that departs from Israel OR arrives to Israel (including itineraries with a stopover), on any carrier, Israeli or foreign. Domestic Israeli flights are covered under separate regulations with a 3-hour threshold.
If the flight neither departs from nor arrives to Israel, STOP and tell the user this law does not apply; EU Regulation 261/2004 may cover it instead, with different amounts (250/400/600 EUR) and a 3-hour delay threshold. Never quote the Israeli amounts for a non-Israel flight, and never quote EU261 amounts as if they were the Israeli entitlement. The two regimes are separate, but they do OVERLAP on many Israel routes, so do not treat "the Israeli law applies" as meaning EU261 cannot. Step 6.5 has the test and the claiming order.
Then check the ticket itself. Entitlement attaches to a passenger who was ISSUED a ticket and presented for check-in on time. Two ticket types are excluded from all benefits under section 2(b)(2): a ticket received free of charge, and a ticket bought at a special fare not available to the public directly or indirectly (staff tickets, industry discounts, negotiated non-public fares). The carve-back matters and is the common case: a ticket issued under a frequent-flyer or loyalty programme IS covered, so an award ticket bought with points is a full claim. Ask how the ticket was obtained before quoting any amount, and note that a lap infant with no issued ticket of their own has no entitlement.