New York – Passengers on the “nightmare” El Al flight from New York to Tel Aviv on Thursday night are planning on taking legal action against the airline for a series of decisions that culminated in the group being stuck in Athens throughout Shabbat.
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Drafts of letters with demands have been circulating between the passengers over the last couple of days. One passenger said that the group was split into those who were waiting to see what compensation the airline would offer and those who were going to be taking legal action with disregard to whatever the company decided to do.
Sources close to El Al said that the airline was planning to offer compensation to the passengers and would make decisions in the coming days.
Flight LY002 was scheduled to leave New York’s JFK Airport at 6:30 p.m. local time Thursday and arrive in Israel on Friday afternoon. But due to snow storms and the failure of the El Al cabin staff to arrive on time at the airport, the flight ended up leaving more than five hours later.
Shortly before the plane took off, religious passengers began to request stridently to disembark since they realized that the flight would continue into the Sabbath on Friday evening, a violation of Jewish religious law.
El Al claimed that “a group of haredim” requested to get off the plane and “exercised heavy and violent pressure against the cabin crew” in seeking to disembark, and alleged that this caused further delays in taking off.
Numerous passengers have denied these allegations, including a former member of Knesset and a journalist for Israel Hayom, and accused the captain and the flight crew of essentially kidnapping the passengers who had wanted to get off the plane to avoid violating Shabbat.
According to these passengers, the flight captain announced that the plane was returning to the gate to allow anyone who wanted to disembark to do so, but then swiftly made its way to the runway and took off unannounced while passengers were still on their phones telling their family members they were staying in New York.
They accused the airline of lying and of a “kidnap” after a five-hour delay in taking off meant that the plane could not reach Israel before Shabbat began.
“We were locked in a cage. There was nowhere to go, and no one to talk to. The people we trusted to take us safely to Israel were in their cabin not talking to us and leaving the flight attendants to talk to us,” said Yehudit Rossler from Monsey, New York, who was a passenger on the plane. “They kidnapped us from New York. They told us we were going back to the gate, and took off instead.”
El Al could care less !!!!
Boycott El Al!
That’s the only solution to teach El Al a lesson.
I had a gentile co-worker who suffers from claustrophobia. He was once being held inside a plane for a few hours before departure due to some airlines issues, and when they finally announced they were going to depart, this guy said I can’t take it anymore, I need to go back to the gate or I will go crazy. The airline had to get off line and go back to the gate for this one passenger.
Elal should have done the same for these frum passengers that did not want to travel on shabbos. This is a Jewish airline and they should have shown understanding. They should be made to make a payment that would make them regret for this.
Sue the pants off El Al; it should be boycotted by the Hareidim. Once El Al is hit in the pocketbook, it will change its obstinate ways.
DON’T FLY ON THURSDAY UNLESS YOU HAVE TO — STUPID!
Here what a non-Haredi Betsalel Steinhart writes:
I am writing this as a response to the articles posted on the news and social media of violence on El Al 002 from JFK.
I was on that flight and as I type this, I am in Athens airport waiting to board my 11:30 p.m. flight back to Tel Aviv. (Which is another point: Why cannot they get a flight earlier? We all have to work tomorrow and will not get back until 2 a.m.!)
I am not Haredi, just a religious man who keeps Shabbat, and neither were most of the 200 of us who got off the plane in Athens rather than desecrate Shabbat. Maybe 20 percent Haredi at most.
Chabad here were fantastic and a potentially horrible Shabbat was memorable.
I did not see any violence on the flight after the captain announced the change of destination, although clearly I wasn’t watching every part of the plane all the time. If there was, then that is inexcusable.
I saw: disappointment, anger, raised voices, for sure.
Understandably. We all had plans for Shabbat. None of us wanted to be in Athens.
Part 2:
However: El Al, take responsibility for your actions. You were the problem here:
1. The flight was delayed for 5+ hours from 18:30 to 23:45, not because of the snow but because the crew was hours late. Not their fault personally, but if 400 passengers can see the snow forecast and realize that coming early was advisable, why couldn’t the El Al crew or management who orders the bus not think of that? Their bus was ordered at 3:30pm; so order it for earlier! The excuse that the bus was stuck in traffic is inexcusable.
2.It added insult to injury when after we were already waiting for two hours, the pilot shows up…with coffee in his hand. As in: I’m hours late and it’s not my fault, so I’ll let hundreds of people wait longer while I get my coffee.
Part 3:
3.The captain blatantly lied to us. At 23:40, when it was clear that if we took off, we would land shortly before Shabbat in Israel, many religious people were demanding to be let off the plane. In order to get them to sit down the pilot announced that we were returning to the gate and to please sit. He then drove and took off within a few minutes — and of course in your seat you have no idea where the plane is driving towards. Lies.
4.Taking off in bad weather 9.5 hours before Shabbat comes in is irresponsible. Telling the religious passengers to get off if they want to in Athens — I felt, lehavdil, like I was in Entebbe when I got off — was shameful. A teenage girl near me was crying and I wasn’t far from that as well. I didn’t eat my omelette that they served, I saved it for Shabbat food (that I didn’t need in the end, but the feeling was very bad).
Part 4:
5.The flight attendants, who, again, may or may not have had violence directed towards them that I would never condone for a second — had no idea how to act under a stressful situation. Crying, shouting back even if shouted at, rudeness — unacceptable. You represent El Al, the aircraft, and the passengers are clients who have spent hundreds of dollars. Act in a way that is professional.
6.To interview two clearly anti-religious people without waiting to interview other people who were in Athens is irresponsible on behalf of the media.
Part 5:
As I said above: there is no reason for us to be waiting now until 11:30 at night. Getting a plane here earlier should have been first priority. Not to mention that most of us have been in the same clothes for three days, have no working phones, or travel insurance.
I will eventually get home and I will proudly tell my kids that I chose to go to Athens and miss them, rather than break Shabbat. I will relay that same message to my Ramah Israel students in the future.
I will be writing my own blog post about the actual Shabbat when I have the time.
In the meantime, I’m still in line.
Shavua tov from Athens…
I am sorry that people didn’t get to their homes in time for Shabbat. Having said that, there was an ice storm in NY that no one predicted. People on the roads spent 5 hours in their cars Thursday night because the roads had not been salted. This storm was not expected!!! When the frum passengers saw that their flight was delayed, WHY DIDN’T THEY ASK FOR A TRIP ON SATURDAY NIGHT????
A Thursday evening flight is skirting with Shabbat even if it is on time. The general rule at Kennedy is, if the plane left the gate and is in line for takeoff, they will not return to the gate. There are security issues, mechanical issues and takeoff issues. Unless the plane has a malfunction, it is on track to take off.
And, historically speaking, this plane was not in danger, it was not hijacked, at no time were the people in any danger. GIVE ME A BREAK!!!! If you value Shabbat, travel on Wednesday, especially on short Fridays.
Why didn’t the second El Al flight also discharge its passengers in Rome, instead of Athens? Athens is where the Entebbe hijackers boarded Air France, in 1976. The symbolism of dropping religious passengers off there, smacks of chutzpah on the part of the secular idiots, running El Al!
Can’t people learn halacha where it says it’s forbidden to start a trip before shabbos as it may leas to chillul shabbos, and this means a plane to israel that is expected to arrive just hours before the start of shabbos, NEVER TEMPT FATE .