El Al Israel Airlines - Johannesburg

Dear

I refer to our telephonic conversation dated the 4th of January.

I have been flying with EL Al for close to 20 years. I have been extremely passionate about the airline as it represents the state of Israel and hence, have ensured that all my trips to and from Israel is via EL AL irrespective of the price.

However, my experience with the airline over the last few days has crossed all boundaries. I feel obliged to share my frustrations with your office before sharing it with social media and the South African general public.

Two days ago the ticket which I wanted to book was trading at approximately R9500, I tried securing the ticket which the website did not allow. Hence, I immediately attempted calling numerous times the South African office. I could not reach the office, however, in the meantime the algorithm which you use increased the price by approximately R1000.

The next day was a complete repeat of the previous day, however, the fee increased by another approximately R1000.

I immediately called your Israeli office as I could not reach your South African office and the response that from the person I spoke to was ‘’ we are El Al and we can do what we want.’’

I am a seasoned traveler and had a similar incident with another airline to another country. However, the response from that airline was a different and I quote, ‘’since our system wasn’t working, we would like to provide you with the customer service you deserve and hence we will give you a ticket at the initial price.’’

I would like to emphasize that I am a Zionistic Jew, however, I am not prepared to be treated in this manner by anybody no matter who you are.

I feel that I have been deeply mistreated and refuse to allow El AL to get away with thinking that ‘’ we are EL AL and can do what we want’’. This is not how business is done in South Africa!!

Kind regards
Eli

I am flying to Israel next Saturday. Does my computer bag count as hand luggage?