Comments on: El Al will not give veto right to Rabbonim

By: torboy2006

torboy2006 — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 03:36:34 +0000

I don’t understand… If chilul shabbos is the problem, why aren’t the gedolei yisroel trying to shut down the State of Israel’s international airport on Shabbos? What difference does it make that it is El Al when all the airport workers are Yidden too? Why should this private company be penalized any different then any other non-frum company? If shmiras shabbos is the issue in eretz yisroel, ban all planes from landing in Israel over shabbos and don’t have a double standard the forces El Al to operate at a disadvantage from its competitors as every other airline is free to operate on Shabbos.

Does the shmira against the Israeli airline not affect Egged busses that run on Shabbos throughout the country and have been targets of terrorists too? Why isn’t egged shut down on Shabbos? Why are charedim still riding Egged?

By: Ish Yehudi

Ish Yehudi — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 00:24:59 +0000

Some observations and thoughts. First, the “frum olam” spans a wide spectrum. Some people will follow the gedolim, others will not. So El Al is probably thinking that they do not have much to lose. However, even if there is only a 10 percent drop in their business, this could be their entire profit margin, and it could mattter significantly to them. But they have to see it happen before thy will conform to the gedolim’s request. If they try to fly regularly on Shabbos in order to make up for lost business, this would probably antagonize even those who as of now would still fly with El Al. So I doubt if that would happen. Now, suppose some representatives of the frum olam approach Continental explaining the situation and requesting more flights etc. to accommodate those who will not fly El Al. This is a highly competetive business. Don’t you think Continental will grab at the opportunity. Moreover, there is an inertia factor that smart business people understand. Once travelers switch to Continental and are satisfied, it would be difficult for El Al to win those customers back. Maybe El Al understands this too. The bottom line is that there are opportunities for the frum olam to achieve their Shabbos objectives, but they have to act in a concerted well-focused manner to do so.

By: a bisel sechel

a bisel sechel — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 20:06:14 +0000

DWKL1 Thank you for the info. please keep me updated on it.
I doubt that anything will ever come of it as far as getting compensation, but I sure wouldnt mind.
I am still hoping that the idiots will realize the stupidity of their actions and put their heads down in shame and agree to what needs to be done

By: DWKL1

DWKL1 — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 16:48:18 +0000

latest today friday erev shabbos fron page hamodea has a news report that rabbi shmuel from agudas yisroel is filing a class action suite against el-al to force them to refund all el-al tickets that are cancelled due the rabonims ban so abisel sechel u may get your money back after all then go fly continental

btw continental is a much more comfortable seat/flight andthey usaually have a higher % of availability on the cheaper priced tickets then el-al does though that may change if everyone starts flying with them

By: mark levin

mark levin — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 05:25:18 +0000

To DWKL1,

I was referring to the DL flights thru ATL…. not the codeshare flights.

In fact I have been told Luftansa, if you can put up with flying a German airline, may be the best.

By: focusedjews

focusedjews — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 01:23:54 +0000

It’s simple. People who are Shomer Shabbos understand the issue and do not use Mechaleli Shabbos. People who themselves unfortunately are Mechalel Shabbos are generally not sensitive to the issue. So any so called “aviation experts” (anyone have an address for them?) are not Shomer Shabbos experts. If they choose to be Mechalel Shabbos because of the boycott, then we can understand that they cannot be trusted for a moment with this issue. Do you still want to fly with this airline?

By: kler

kler — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 00:34:22 +0000

Lemaase, all ElAl has to do is lower the prices and the frum oilam will come running like bees to the honey. There will be some sort of “heter” that if its a “shas hadchak” e.g. someone is poor they can fly ElAl. They’ve been there in the past and they aren’t too concerned.

By: a bisel sechel

a bisel sechel — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 23:17:13 +0000

It amazes me that there are quite a few people that feel they really understand better the the gedolim. As mentioned above these are from the greates gedolim of our times and there are plenty of stories showing how the words coming out of their mouths come to fruition (not to mention the incident with the elal flight that had to return for an emergency landing just this week after reb chaim had said it is a “sakana” to fly with elal.
Do we need to wait for a terrible tragedy chas veshalom to happen in order to realize that we must adhere to their call?????
By the way I happen to be one that has a NON REFUNDABLE ticket with elal and I can surely feel the pain in the pocket. No one can say that its easy for me to sound so “erlich” and listen to their call. I wonder how many of those that feel they know better are loosing $$$ and maybe even the whole trip because of this

By: Paki

Paki — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 21:31:25 +0000

At de end of the day, when it comes to busy periods very close to Yom Tov, and flights are full no other airline puts on two extra flights a day. If we wont be allowed to fly with el al, it wil be even more chaos getting around.

By: chanie

chanie — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 21:05:16 +0000

Without going into details pro or con, we must remember that Rav Chaim Shlita, Rav Elyashav Shlita are not some Tom ,Dick or Harry Rov. They are among the greatest Gedolim that we have. Far be it for us to have the Chutzpah to try and second guess them. And remember when you go to Eretz Yisroel you go to Gedolim such as them for Brochos, advice etc. not the CEO of ElAl.

Chanie T.