Travel agents claim against Lufthansa likely to be dropped
The chairman of the Association of Travel Agents will be able to present the law suit in the name of the travel agents; this is what transpired following discussions held at the district court in Petach Tikva, in the case of the Israel Travel Agents Association against the Lufthansa Group as a result of the cancellation of 7 percent basic commission.
It appears that the Travel Agents Association will erase their writ against Lufthansa, Swiss and United Airlines, because they do not have commercial relations with the airlines, however the court will allow Yossi Fattal, the head of the Israel Travel Agents Association to proceed and represent the 118 travel agents who signed the writ.
This follows the request to the court from the airlines to examine the possibility of deleting the Association’s case, because it fails to meet the criteria of what is a travel agent.
At the start of the discussion, Esther Stemmer, judge for the district court, expressed her concern at the lack of progress in the case and proposed to the lawyers from both sides to implement the new changes in order to bring a swift conclusion to the legal proceedings.
Stemmer set a date for an additional discussion for the 15th September, which until then it is believed that both sides will try to reach an agreement on two clauses: The deletion of the Association’s writ and the cancellation of economic expressions. According to Stemmer, on no condition will she allow the defence to investigate all of the travel agents that are suing, even though the airlines' lawyers claimed that the Association is not certified to represent the claimants.
Regarding the second clause, the judge indicated that she has no intention of allowing the trial to examine the financial damage caused to the travel agents as a result of cancelling basic commission.
Dror Strum, the lawyer representing the Travel Agents Association, said that he will agree to waive the claim of causing financial damage to the agents, on the grounds that the airlines don’t demand proof of it.
