Serbia: Air Serbia passengers to Tel Aviv told they're flying to "Palestine"

Via Ynet News:

Land crew at Serbia's Nikola Tesla International Airport in Belgrade has recently informed Air Serbia passengers flying to Tel Aviv that boarding had begun for the flight to "Palestine."

The incident, which occurred on August 29 ahead of Air Serbia's JUO 816 night flight from Belgrade to Tel Aviv, created uproar at the airport, with Israeli passengers refusing to get on the plane until the correct announcement was made. The airline representatives explained to passengers that "the flight is to Tel Aviv, not to Israel."

One of the Israeli passengers recounted the incident: "To our surprise, one of the airport employees asked over the PA system that 'passengers for flight 816 with service to Palestine please come to gate C3.' She repeated this several times."

"I couldn't hold back when I heard it. At first I thought that I didn’t hear the announcement correctly, and I asked a few other people if they heard them say 'Palestine' over the PA system," he continued.

The passenger approached the airline's desk at the gate. "I was joined by a man from Rosh Pina. I asked them to announce that the flight was going to Israel and not to Palestine," he said.

The manager responded that the flight was to Tel Aviv, not Israel.

"I told her that the flight was also not to 'Palestine' and requested they announce that the flight was going to Israel or even Tel Aviv. We told them they need to announce it three times, and told them that we would refuse to board the plane otherwise," he said.

"After the staff discussed the matter amongst themselves in Serbian, they indeed announced that the flight was going to Tel Aviv three times. The manager of the desk personally took us to gate C3 and apologized to us several times." 

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