What do you do when you put in a meal request for a kosher meal but don’t receive it onboard? Well, you do what this guy did: fast for the 12-hour flight and then file a law suit against the airline. Duh!
Lufthansa Group found themselves in a little hot water recently after failing to provide a pre-booked kosher meal for Isaac Kopfler on a 12+hour Swiss Air flight from Zurich to Sao Paolo back in 2012.
Swiss Air is part of the Lufthansa Group.
According to Swiss Air policy, meals are guaranteed to be onboard if ordered at least 24 hours in advance.
Unfortunately, for some odd reason, the Isaac’s kosher meal didn’t make it on the flight, and the passenger had to do without food for the entire length of the long-haul flight.
Ouch!
This is the meal the passenger should have received.
Upon arrival in Brazil, the passenger filed a law suit against the airline for $5,000 on the grounds that it caused him “moral damage.”
Lufthansa, upon hearing of the suit, argued that the passenger paid for, and received, transportation. Done deal.
But the Brazilian court rejected this:
The passenger has the right to receive what he paid for. It is a consumer relationship and, unlike what the airline claims, the nonexistence of kosher food, despite having been requested in advance, is not an accessory matter.
So what was the outcome?
It was a success for the passenger.
Isaac Kopfler received $1,400 in compensation from the airline group, although it did take over 4 years to settle.
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