The passengers on an El Al fight scheduled to depart Kennedy Airport at 7:55PM – did not end up having an easy night. After boarding the plane, they were told that they had a technical problem with the plane and needed to get off. They were told that there was a “battery problem” with the plane. The passengers were then called to board the flight again at 11:43PM, and departed at 12:30AM.
They were scheduled to land in Eretz Yisroel at 4:30PM on Friday afternoon – but that did not happen.
At approximately 2:30AM, the flight had re-landed with technical difficulties in Kennedy Airport after dumping it’s fuel over the Atlantic Ocean.
The flight has been rescheduled for 9:00PM on Motzei Shabbos – which does not help more than half the passengers whom are Shomrei Shabbos.
Efforts are being made to convince El Al to schedule the flight for later in the evening.
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14 Responses
At least they aren’t flying on Shabbos, but 9:00 PM Motzei Shabbos is impossible. They should should schedule it for much later!!
If the El Al airplane is scheduled to depart at 9 pm on Motzaei Shabbos, people — Jews or non-Jews — will probably be servicing the plane on Shabbos. We need a Psak from the Rabbanim whether this is permissible.
Even if only Goyim are working on the plane on Shabbos, there may be a serious Maris Ayin issue, because it is being done openly on Jewish property.
How can they dump their fuel in the Atlantic??? What if it lands on some high-class passenger in a Cruise Liner??????
this is chukos hagoyim mammash, just like the vending machine in hakensac
2. Even the regular flight which leaves at midnight has people servicing the plane before Shabbos is out.
3. By the time fuel dumped at several thousand feet altitude from a plane moving in excess of 200 mph reaches the ground it has been dispersed by the atmosphere to a density that has no effect.
shazam
it’s even better than that
being highly volatile, the fuel not merely disperses into a lower density, but completely evaporates.
I think we should thank hashem that it didn’t end up worse.
drdrekop, what does chukas hagoyim have to do with anything?
i was on the flight. with my three kids. i cannot begin (though i will try) to express our utter dissapointment in el al’s handling of the situation.
it was just miserable.
we’re still not confirmed for the make-up flight (obviously we didn’t get on to the immediately-after-shabbos flight), but we’re hopeful that we’ll get on a sunday flight.
What accomodations did they make for the passengers? Where were they kept over Shabbos? Did they have a place to sleep? To daven? To eat? Would they notbe allowed to make repairs on Shabbos? Would the halocho permit them to use the plane if it was fixed on Shabbos? Spilling fuel over the ocean is always done when a malfunctioning plane is about to make emergency landing,to prevent or minimize explosion upon crash-landing. Do the passengers get some kind of refund ?
I feel really bad for all the passengers who were planning to be in Eretz Yisroel for Shabbos, maybe for simchos or whatever other good reason.
Also, the issue of ELAL rescheduling for 9Pm is typical and is a deja vu for them.
However, these are all inconveniences.
I believe that the correct response to this is #7. This is a Neis! Hashem Yerachem had the plane been half way over the ocean and run into engine trouble.
Let’s be thankful and recognizre the chasdei shomayim here instaed of harping on the inconveniences which were all bashert in any event.
This site is supposedly “the Yeshiva World”‘s voice. Hakol Kol Yaakov! We must always look for the Yad Hashem and be thankful when these situations end with minor (or major)inconveniences as opposed to Hashem Yerachem more tradgedies.
Mo Oshiv La’Hashem Kol Takmuloi Oloy!
I’ve thought about it over and over and the one thing that I can’t figure out is what business a frum person has getting on a flight leaving at 12:30 AM Friday morning. A 10 hour flight plus the 7 hour time difference means that in the best case scenario this flight will land at 5:30 Friday afternoon. And then their is baggage claim and customs and about a million other possible delays. Yes it may all work out in the end but there is a big chance that it won’t. How can a person play those kinds of odds with Shabbos! And then we blame EL-Al for not respecting Shabbos when we ourselves are so sorely lacking.
Just a thought . . .
jet fuel is really kerosene — it dries / evaporates very very quickly.
why should el al be any different from any other airline — they keep you waiting for hours, dont tell you what’s going on, boards, unboards, keeps you on the plane for hours, etc.
perhaps we should go back to the days when el al employee’s could board a plane for free, bump off other passengers (even at the last minute), etc.
at least the service wasnt as bad as today, and the planes left pretty much on schedule. and the fares were less than today. (of course they were constantly losing money, and it was a govt owned corporation)
and i’m not even talking about chilull shabbas.
9pm would be OK a month from now, but only just. A few years ago I booked myself on an El Al flight that was to leave at 8:55pm on motzei shabbos, at the end of September. I left for the airport as soon as shabbos was over at 7:15pm, and davened maariv and made havdala once I got there.
But it turned out that not enough passengers were willing to do that (for one thing, many people take shabbos out later), and they didn’t have enough passengers for the plane, so they cancelled it. Of course they didn’t tell me this until I showed up at the airport…