I write this as I sit on El Al Flight LY1 from TLV to JFK. I am traveling with my family and my youngest daughter has a diagnosis of Downs Syndrome. I have flown countless times to countless destinations worldwide and I wanted to publicize that the crew on this flight is outstanding! They are professional, caring, mindful of the passengers myriad situations and needs, and they have been handling any and all issues with aplomb.
One flight attendant pulled me aside and asked me if my daughter had any specific needs while flying or if she had any fears or anything he should be aware of. I have never been asked that question while flying with her before. I was touched by his sincerity.
Several frum male passengers had requested to switch seats for reasons of tznius and the El Al flight attendants handled the requests with such admirable respect.
I am truly shocked. On other airlines the flight staff are generally biased toward the frum and create massive issues when such requests are made. Chilul HaShem generally follows as people get angry and make a scene in order to have their needs met. In contrast, El Al’s flight crew is something to behold.
The flight crew of Levi Lior, Bar On Ofer, and Masa Shlomi, led by manager Madmony Bar Keren are sterling examples of what flight attendants – and excellent employees in general – should be. They bring credit and honor to El Al and I am grateful to be flying with them today.
As a businessman, I know that people are much more likely to complain than to thank and are much more likely to publicly bash an airline than compliment them. I thus feel duty bound to share my thoughts as I sit here enjoying the services of El Al’s excellent team.
Ignore the minority of people who have nothing nice or positive to say and notice the simple fact that we should be incredibly grateful for El Al and the exemplary service they provide – especially for frum Jews like myself.
Yosef M.
Passaic, NJ
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22 Responses
It is refreshing to hear a bit of “Loshon HaTov” instead of “Loshon HaRa”.
We should all learn from this author the power that positive praise can create both among our fellow Yiddin and as a Saneigor up in Shamayim on behalf of Klal Yisroel to allow HKBH to shower upon us Bracha v’Hatzlacha.
Thank you for your words and for inspiring all of us to think and speak positively as we approach the Yom Tov of Kabbolas HaTorah.
We are all glad that you had a great experience, and we hope everyone should have such great experiences.
But why would you call other people that didn’t have this ‘great experience’ “HATERS”?
Perhaps they have their claims are legitimate. Have you read their complaints?
I would’ve preferred that people are able to complain to a manger without shaming a yiddish company (loshon Horaah is like playing with fire 🔥).
Writing true compliments about a yiddish company is היפך loshon horah and it is very praiseworthy, but why stick in negativity into it???? WHY????
Agreed that the majority of kvetching comes from ehrliche yidden who are infrequent flyers and either ignorant or intolerant of the usual operational issues for commercial airlines compounded by the unique constraints applicable to El Al service. Kudos to the flight crew and hope all works out well with your daughter.
It’s very nice that this person had a good experience with a good crew. That does not invalidate the bad experiences other people have had with bad crews. I don’t think any of the complainers have claimed that all El-Al’s crews are bad, or that the airline treated them badly as a matter of policy; they simply reported how their crew treated them, which was often in a way that was not acceptable even once.
Thank you dear neighbor your accolades report on ElAl. My husband and I have been flying to Israel quite a bit and we too have had that feeling. Some of the flight personnel whose names you mentioned have also impressed us, especially Bar On Ofer. We’re going iy”h for Shavuos and hope to meet these special people again. Ella’s overall attitude towards the customers has greatly changed. Their airport staff in EY still is a problem – they’re understaffed and the wait time is painful. They blame that on personnel cuts during Covid. I’m not sure it couldn’t be remedied by now but nonetheless their aircraft crews and staff at JFK (our preferred choice even though Newark is closer to home) is still the best! Keep it up ElAl and make sure we, your NY clients don’t lose out with your headquarters move to Miami.
Yosef M,
Did you ever have the need to call Elal customer service? I did. Twice. And each time I was on hold for over an hour and a half.
Your headline is misleading. That specific crew might be fantastic. Elal stinks
Beautifully expressed! I have the same opinions of the El-Al flight crews.
Especially when they try charging you double the price of an extra suitcase for a few extra kilo overweight coming back from Israel.
It’s great that you had a good experience. You mentioned that “Several frum male passengers had requested to switch seats for reasons of tznius and the El Al flight attendants handled the requests with such admirable respect.” I wonder if these requests were actually accommodated, and whether respect was given by both the crew and passengers. If so, this gives me renewed hope that flying on El Al can be a civilized experience.
Regardless, it sounds like the crew was unusually service-oriented and worthy of recognition.
SO glad you had a good experience, not everyone does. Unfortunately my experience doesn’t mirror yours. There are no haters out there, as a businessman you know that complaints are not a bad thing. We live in a world where companies have to be competitive to thrive. I personally am glad we have the right to complain…. and the right to praise. Glad you are able to. I wish I could too.
Amazing how this writer seems to know all the names of not only crew but management … prob a paid op-ed by el al
.. for the majority of passengers flying el al I guarantee their experience is nothing like that..
glad you and your family had a wonderful experience..
I prob travel 60 times a year and can guarantee you that I would put el al last on my list..
their customer service is horrible..
they think because they are Jewish it’s a honor for frum to fly with them.. they take our business for granted..
for every good story there are 10 bad experiences with them..
I myself flew with them twice this year and left saying never again afterwards.
Like I said glad it was great for you.. but most ppl would not agree ..
Thank you for the positive comments;
i also had a very good experience flying el al
i asked a young stewardess if i could have a coffee with milk ; in a very nice way, she mentioned that the last meal served included chicken , and perhaps i forgot ; i didn’t, i just didn’t eat the fleishigs
it was very remarkable to me that she would notice and mentioned that, and in such a nice way!
Always patronize Jewish companies, especially El Al, and shame on anyone who בשיטה refuses to fly El Al
Kudos to all El Al passengers✈🇮🇱👍
What an obnoxious article. So you had a good experience and that makes you have the chutzpa to call other people haters. Elal is the worst airline ever.
@yasher, nobody cares about you, enjoy your sad pathetic life of going onto forums to get validation from strangers because your parents never gave you attention as a child.
ElAl is coming out of a disastrous two years atop crumbling financial troubles. Give it a chance! Some of the comments above, are unfair! Give them a chance to reestablish themselves.
@BIDENSMYMASHIACH: Oh dear, dear, dear… I’m sorry, sweetie, was it something I said?
Clearly written and paid for by ElAl. Why else mention the names of management?
what class did you fly
This article and thread is the perfect example of how our society has become distorted by the notion that “If I feel good about something, then that is the absolute truth” and “if I feel bad about something, then that is the absolute truth”. “What I experience is true, what you experience is false.” Some people here pointed out here that “good for you, but I had a lousy experience with El AL”. If they had stopped there, the point would be valid. But then they continue, “El Al is the worst airline ever”. Oh? The very thing they are criticizing this article for, they are guilty for themselves.
Where do we frum yidden get this sensationalized version of the “truth” from? Perhaps it’s from the severely polarized, social media-driven rhetoric of today’s western culture, that has unfortunately swept many of us away.
@yspgoldman: Thank you for pointing out the hypocrisy in my sentiments. I had not been conscious of it. I stand corrected.
@Yashar Thank you for the courage to say that. If only today’s discourse could follow your example, we would be in a much better place.