All the news about Israeli tourism

After attempts to bridge the differences between the sides failed; representatives of Lufthansa, Swiss and the Travel Agents Association convened in front of Judge Esther Stemmer.  This was as a result of the continuation of proceedings submitted by the Travel Agents Association because of the cancellation of base commission which started at the beginning of the year. The Travel Agents Association demand return to cancellation of the compromise agreement.

Base commission was indeed cancelled 3 months ago and the new business model appears to be working successfully, however the Israel Travel Agents Association and the airlines will need to meet again in the law court on June 15th.   Both sides agree that the main stumbling block relates to the clause obliging the airlines to charge fees for 36 months. On this point the airlines refuse to commit for fear of being investigated on the grounds of antitrust. The Travel Agents Association however, are unwilling at this time to give up with Lufthansa and Swiss for fear of similar problems with other airlines.

The complaints of the travel agents is that Lufthansa and Swiss refuse to cooperate with the Antitrust authorities and to show them documents relevant to the decision to collect handling fees directly from customers.  Legal representative for the travel agents, Attorney Ziller accused the airlines of showing bad faith, arguing that the documents have no relevance to the claim.  In response, Attorney Raziel representing the defendants claimed that the documents contain trade secrets that they are unwilling to reveal.  He warned that if his client was required by the court to show these documents, they would object and fight the judgment unequivocally.

The Association requires that Lufthansa and Swiss immediately return to the compromise agreement reached, regarding the cancellation of handling fees for 36 months against the cancellation of the lawsuit.  Commented Judge Stemmer: “Why don’t you leave the claim open and act on it only in the event that the agreement is cancelled?” Attorney Ziller: "That is not the point. The defendant did not operate like British Airways when requested to cancel the IATA contract”.

The managers of Lufthansa and Swiss in Israel arrived for the hearing. Facing them was director general of the Israel Travel Agents Association, Yossi Fatael.  At the end of the hearing, spokesman for Lufthansa, Tal Muscal said that the airline would continue to impose its commercial policies to the benefit of the parties.