A cohort of Israelis have become trapped in Greece after their flights were cancelled by the airline RyanAir, with flights from the country only available in March, according to a Ynet report on Tuesday.
As a result of the coronavirus crisis, many airlines have been forced to cut services and staff in order to save money from the major drop in demand due to ongoing entry restrictions into countries around the world. For the Israelis in Greece, Ynet reported that some will be forced to pay higher prices for flights on RyanAir in order to return home in March.
Einat (34) from Tel Aviv purchased flight tickets to Athens in Greece from in late September on RyanAir. After deciding extend her stay in the country, RyanAir cancelled her flight, forcing her to change her return flight to November 2, which costed her an extra 55 Euros.
After two days, Einat received a message from the company saying her new flight was cancelled.
"I did not understand how I was allowed to change the flight date when only days later they cancel the flight, they did not know about the previous days?", Einat said
"For four days I tries to reach them but there is no human representative. I also tried through their chat on Facebook but there is an automatic answer."
Einat later received a reply to an email she sent to the company, which gave her the option of a monetary compensation of 20 Euros, or rebooking the flight.
"I realized that it was not profitable for me to choose monetary compensation, so I chose the option of changing the flight date, but then I discovered that the company no longer has flights to Israel from now until March," said Einat.
Ynet reported that RyanAir is in the process of major layoffs in all sections of the company, which has forced it to cut flights.
"I did not come to live here. I have so nowhere to go. I flew here alone, I know some people here but it is getting smaller because it is starting to get cold and the tourist season is ending so I am going to get stuck in Athens."
Einat also said that she needs to return for IDF reserve duty: "I serve in the Home Front Command's information department. They need me, I have an order. I will have to return soon, but I will pay for all this?"
Another group, couple Alona and Roi from Givatayim, also got stuck in Greece after a short trup due to the RyanAir cancellations.
"Because we booked before the lockdown in Israel was announced, we will be able to fly as usual. After the lockdown began, I received an email from RyanAir informing customer that because of the changing instructions of the Israeli government, they are forced to cancel the return flight."
The couple received the same offer as Einat, but instead opted to fly on the Israeli carrier Israir, costing six times the price of RyanAir, which is a low-cost carrier.