Ryanair apologises after flight attendant calls Israel 'Palestine'

A Ryanair jet. Several Israelis on the flight claimed they confronted the attendant. Reuters

Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair has apologised after a flight attendant said the Israeli city of Tel Aviv was in Palestine on a flight from Italy to Israel.

Passengers were told repeatedly during the June 10 flight, in English and Italian, that their flight was bound for “Palestine”.

Shortly before landing, the flight attendant announced the plane's approach “into Palestine,” Israeli media reported.

Several Israelis on the flight claimed that they confronted the attendant, asking her to clarify and apologise.

“We didn’t [buy tickets] on the airline to deal with anti-Zionist opinions”, a passenger reportedly said.

“All we wanted was [an announcement] that Tel Aviv is in Israel.”

Yet, according to passengers, instead of apologising, the flight attendant doubled down and then accused the passengers of causing a disturbance that endangered those on the flight. However, Ryanair said the mistake was immediately corrected and an apology was made by a senior crew member.

There were some calls on social media for a boycott of the airline.

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre wrote on Twitter: “If Ryanair considers Tel Aviv to be in Palestine then perhaps they should only do business with the Palestinian Authority. Israel and Israelis can make their own way to and from the Jewish state.”

After passengers requested that the flight attendant correct herself, she refused and accused them of endangering the safety of the flight, reports said.

When one of the passengers attempted to take a picture of the attendant, she was told that she would be arrested upon landing for getting out of her seat to take a picture.

In response to the incident, Ryanair issued a statement saying: “A junior crew member on this flight from Bologna to Tel Aviv (10 June) made a routine descent PA mistakenly saying ‘Palestine’ instead of Tel Aviv. This was an innocent mistake with no intent and was immediately corrected and apologised for by the senior crew member on board.”