New York – El Al Ticket Saga Continues To Unfold

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    New York – For the unknown number of customers who purchased flights on El Al yesterday, which for several hours offered round trip fares in the unbelievably low $300 range, the question that remains unresolved is this: will El Al honor the tickets?

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    The answer is still unknown.

    As previously reported on VIN News, the incredibly low fares were posted in error, as a third party who posts the fares for El Al neglected to add in the fuel surcharge, resulting in prices that, for many, were too good to resist.

    As of late this afternoon, El Al’s media director Sheryl Stein said the airline had still not decided how to handle the issue. Stein told VIN News that El Al hopes to issue an official statement some time tomorrow.

    Whether or not El Al is legally obligated to honor the tickets is as yet unknown and even officials at the Department of Transportation, who were contacted by VIN News, said they had not yet heard of the mistaken El Al fares and that they do not have enough information to clarify the matter at this time.

    “We would have to look into the circumstances,” Bill Mosley, spokesman for the Department of Transportation told VIN News. “It is hard to discuss something like this in the abstract, without knowing exactly under what circumstances the mistake was made.”

    But according to Mosley, if the company that posted the fares was hired by El Al, it is very possible that El Al may be obligated to honor the tickets.

    “If the third party was working for the airline, that is tantamount to them being the airline,” said Mosely. “I don’t see the distinction if the error was made by a third party or by El Al. If the airline hires a third party to post their fares, that party is under their auspices and it shouldn’t make a difference who actually made the error.”

    This is not the first time that computer glitches have had consumers pouncing on mispriced fares. A recent CNN report documented a mistakenly listed price of $43 plus four air miles for a first class return ticket from New York to Hong Kong, inadvertently posted by United. In this case, the correct fare, normally in excess of $10,000, had been displayed on the booking screen, but customers who actually went to purchase the tickets received the incorrect bargain-basement price.

    Despite a recent ruling by the Department of Transportation which requires airlines to honor a price once a purchase is confirmed even if it is a mistake, in this case, because both prices were shown to customers it was considered a “unique circumstance” by the airline, who only honored the fares for customers who had already begun their travel before United took action to correct the ticket pricing.

    According to the Wall Street Journal, all other customers were given the option of keeping the reservation at regular prices or receiving a refund for the amount paid, with all cancellation fees waived.


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    32 Comments
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    11 years ago

    yesterday evening el al already tweeted they WOULD be honored

    DovidTheK
    DovidTheK
    11 years ago

    A few years ago I got a reservation at the Sheraton hotel for 14.99 a night on Orbitz. It should have been 149.99. The hotel honored the rate.

    harryw
    Member
    harryw
    11 years ago

    TSA as all other government agencies are completely useless and corrupt. The claim they are here to protect the consumer. Well, whenever the consumer asked them for protection they found a loophole to hang on and a hairsplitting distinction between the incident and the circumstances covered by the law

    UseYourHead
    UseYourHead
    11 years ago

    I, for one, would love to see an article by Rabbi Hoffman (or a similar respected figure) exploring the legal and ethical/moral aspects of this incident from a Torah perspective.

    kazy97
    kazy97
    11 years ago

    I heard elal is honoring it

    ELEPHANT
    Member
    ELEPHANT
    11 years ago

    The airline has a right to charge canelation penalties? What penalties to the consumers have the right to charge the airline ?

    nyker
    nyker
    11 years ago

    i haven’t bought these tickets but to be fair if you know its a mistake from an ethnic reason not torah or law it would be stealing. just be thoughtful if elal loses money on this(jew) your brother(jew) will pay an extra fee to recover the lost revenue. elal must show profit to stockholders.

    Luckshin
    Luckshin
    11 years ago

    People that booked tickets through websites not from US got Canceled all others like Expedia etc got confirmed

    radrad
    radrad
    11 years ago

    #4
    Get off it- you are likely one of the folk who wished he got the fare and had you, you would keep you rmouth shut.
    Frankly, I am sick of the “self rightous” out there!

    11 years ago

    Ok, ELAL claims that the fuel surcharge was left off. The usual price for those tickets is 1200.00 you mean to tell me that its a 900.00 SURCHARGE FOR FUEL???? could someone please explain???

    RebKlemson
    RebKlemson
    11 years ago

    they made a mistake. if you purchase the posted price and have a ticket, too bad on them. what is this moral issue. who even knew it was a glitch. life sometimes hands you free lunches

    11 years ago

    Since when is a gratuitous swipe at Satmar part of being ethical or moral?
    You had me fooled for a minute with your holy act, but then you proved that just have DIFFERENT morals than the people you’re criticizing, not BETTER ones.

    aleph
    aleph
    11 years ago

    Is this satmar you are “guessing” about one individual person acting out of a choreographed script or are all 100,000 acting in sync ? Does this satmar person(s) travel elal?

    The real question is with your blind misplaced hate, who would want to share a minyan with you?

    wollenberg
    wollenberg
    11 years ago

    #7 i think you mean “ethical” not ethnic!

    11 years ago

    #15 ,
    by the way, when i onced made a error on a flight and put pm instead of am, i got charged 50$ to change.

    i bought my ticket in good faith honestly thinking it was a “fire sale”

    11 years ago

    #13 There is about a $500 airport tax at Ben Gurion plus the fuel surcharge.
    #15 I agree with you. Kedoshim Ti’hiu. Many people will always call this a midos chassidus, but it is way beyond that. This is one of the reasons our generation is in trouble, and Moshiach is not here. People will try to get out of it by saying it is a corporation, and other “justifications.” My only problem is why are you picking on Satmar at the end? I’ve had just as many arguments about this with modern as with chassidish.

    headsup
    headsup
    11 years ago

    Why lambast one segment (satmar) of yiddishkeit? They do many chasodim and are basically great people. Unfortunately, many of us gutte yidden have the ta’avoh to “chop ah metziah” – even though it is highly questionable. Inherently, it is not correct and should not be pursued. Al pi halacha, it is certainly a mistake.

    Yipyap
    Yipyap
    11 years ago

    Allow me to reiterate. This is HK”B’s work. He is angry that they desicrate his shabbos

    11 years ago

    When El Al DOUBLES the price of the ticket for Sukkos and Pesach is that moral or ethical?!?! How come they can take advantage of us but we can’t take advantage of them?