The following report presents the ‘other side’ of the story of the El Al flight from London that arrived moments before Shabbos in Ben-Gurion International Airport.
The facts reported earlier were accurate; the passengers, referring to some of the dozens of chareidim who were compelled to get off a shuttle bus and walk to Bnei Brak after shekiyah on Friday feel El Al took an unacceptable risk and their flight should have been postponed until after Shabbos due to delays.
Flight 316 from London to Tel Aviv was scheduled to leave on Thursday afternoon at 14:20. Passengers were seated and ready for takeoff when the pilot announced the flight was being delayed due to a technical malfunction. Passengers were instructed to remain seated as the repairs were carried out, expected to take an hour less. That “hour or less” became four hours, at which time passengers received food, and about an hour later, five hours after scheduled takeoff they were informed the flight was being delayed to Friday. The passengers were lodged in a hotel near the airport.
Passengers boarded on Friday morning at 9:00am London time, 11:00am Jerusalem time, and once again, a delay. They finally departed at 12:25pm Israel time for the four-hour flight.
Some of the frum passengers inquired on board, and they were told not to worry, that there was no chance of chilul Shabbos, explaining El Al’s Rabbi Hayut and others would be meeting them in Ben-Gurion to make sure everything runs smoothly.
They arrived at 16:30, with some of the passengers explaining that by the time they got off the plane and took care of the passport check, there were three minutes remaining until candle lighting.
As was explained in the original report, El Al and Zaka worked to expedite the trip to Bnei Brak for frum passengers, but they did not make it before shekiyah, compelled to disembark from the bus at Bar Ilan Junction and walk. Many of the passengers feel El Al simply took the Shabbos issue too lightly, and they paid the price. They feel the passengers should have been offered lodging in London after the Friday morning delays.
El Al explains that weather conditions were responsible for the 19-hour delay. El Al continues explaining when they took off from London, they had every reason to believe they would be landing 90 minutes before Shabbos. Due to ‘technical reasons’ the plane only landed minutes before Shabbos. El Al emphasizes that if officials had the slightest fear of not making it in time for Shabbos, the flight would not have departed from London, stating the airline remains committed to shmiras Shabbos.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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15 Responses
El Al I hope you run the airline better than you math. If it took off at 12:25 and it is 4 hours [normally 4.5 hours it still is 16:25 and not 90 minutes before candle lighting which was 16:45. I believe el al wanted to avoid paying for
the stay over. One thing the people on board should have request for a motzei Shabbos flight. Even if it left at 11:00 it still would get in at 15:00 or later. It is running very very closes
El Al certainly took a significant risk…. But anyone who boarded that aircraft at 0900 London time on a Friday needs to assume that there will be delays and they’ll arrive after Shabbos. Completely irresponsible of them – unless they had a really good reason to cut it that fine… and I can’t really think of one. It must, admittedly, have been difficult for people to have possibly had to make arrangements to stay in London over Shabbos – and possibly at significant extra cost (OK, they might have been put up over Shabbos but also might have had to buy a new ticket if El Al dug their heels in) – but since when did that have any impact on Shemiras Shabbos.
And how many Jewish people at El Al and Zaka had to rush around before Shabbos (and possibly on Shabbos) to sort out this mess?
And why would anyone on that flight have believed El Al when they said everything would be OK? El Al may not actually fly on Shabbos, but their London to Tel Aviv flight on Motzoei Shabbos in June leaves 12-20 minutes after Shabbos. Do they really expect us to believe that the check-in staff and crew stay near the airport, and rush over straight after a quick Havdoloh to check everyone in and get ready to push back?
I’d love to hear from people who were on the flight – especially if I’ve judged them unfairly.
I don’t get it, if the passengers saw that their flight had continuous delays simple calculations would have proven futile thereby rendering their journey forbidden to be undertaken.
I believ
Basically the passengers should have known that if they departed London 11am Jerusalem time and the flight takes 4 hours, landing 90 minutes before Shabbos is best case scenario if nothing goes wrong. Its the passengers responsibility to make the proper decision and not board the flight on Friday if there is any possibility of chillul shabbos. The fact that “some of the frum passengers inquired on board” is not sufficient. They are cutting it to close as they are required to expect delays as its fairly common. This is not a train ride.
I WAS ON THIS FLIGHT—the Thursday one
A few points
1) We were waiting on the flight on thursday for 7
hours till we were told the flight was cancelled
2) We were told the flight would leave 9am Friday- I asked why it wasnt scheduled for 6am as they did when the same thing happened th previous week. Flight supervisor told me ‘becauise that’s too early for the cabin crew’.
Shabbos did not seem to be elal’s consideration at all
3) A bunch of us (chasiidi, litvish and kippa sruga) refused to believe we would get there in time for
shabbos- elal did not want to help but eventually
found us aternative flights after shabbos
4)I was told I would be downgraded from business to economy because I had refused the flight that would land there just before shabbos
5) B”H a bunch of us were moser nefesh for shabbos and stayed in London. You cannot trust elal they do not care about shabbos
6) in the end the flight took off 10.25am friday, or 12.25 pm israel time, and shabos in yerushalayim
was 4.22 and the flight landed at 4.24!! as one
rav said who like me avoided the friday flight ,’chilul shabbos bvadaus’
7) elal has offered no compensation for the people who refused the friday flight, in terms of accomodation etc
8) we were not allowed to get our suitcases from the plane so many people were without shabbos clothes if they missed the flight
9) anyone know how to reach the elal Rabbi Chayat to tell him what happened to us and the chilul shabbos caused by elal
guys this was a jumbo jet load of chilul shabbos
The major takeaway is that they planned their travel on Thursday, not Friday.
Planning travel on Thursday, not Friday is the Gold Standard in caution for keeping Shabbos.
Even the best preparations can fail, and I will certainly not judge those whose best planning nearly failed.
Good for Shuni, #5, for staying in London albeit under not great circumstances rather than risking a chillul Shabbos. Best is never to travel by air on Thursdays and for certain not on Fridays, even bidieved.
shuni – kol hakavod to you and your comrades. May this act of mesiras nefesh bring loads of nachas to the RBSO and bestow all of klal yisroel with this beautiful trait. thank you for being mekadesh shem shamayim.
so typical ,to blame everybody else but themself
if a heimishe yid can risk to fly out so late before shabbos then why should el al not do it ?
what was soooooo inportant to be here for shabbos ?
more than being mechalel shabbos ?
To GG_Chap:- I refer you to Pirkei Ovos:- Don’t Judge someone until thou hast been in his shoes.
As to Shuni’s #2 commnent:- Whilst I certainly comprehend your frustration about 6 AM claimed as being too early for the crew, what Shuni may not realize is, that this is quagmired in legal obligations of how many hours of rest period they are legally obligated to have before they can resume work, despite the fact that you Shuni as well as all we Shomrei Schabbos {& even Mechalelei Schabbos} are legally obligated to HaShem to safegaurd Schabbos, but meanwhile El Al has to conform to international aviation legal obligations.
Nonetheless as to Shuni’s comment #7 I have no way of comprehending, because by law, if passenger does not fly, the airline must remove his/her baggage, as a security measure.
Of-course if you had been booked on British Airways, there would have been even less tolerance for changing flights; But possibly Heathrow being their base, they maybe would have pulled out another aircraft from the hanger, but an airline on foreign turf doesn’t have that option.
But 1 final comment as to why we Jews should >>> must be Makir Tov to El Al, is because of “Bar Minon” cases which unfortunately I recently went thru, where on the same day, we were able to book 3 family members {oneinim} and a Meis onto a flight just at a few hours notice, and El Al does not turn down such requests, even if they have to bump off someone else, so El Al must be recognized for the specials they do to accomodate such situations, which no-one else does.
If this is not enough, when El Al does have a Meis on board, they will not pull up to the jetty [or have jetty pulled out to aeroplane] until the Meis has been disembarked from the aeroplane, eventhough time is money, but in order to comply with a Pesak they have received from Israeli Rabbinate, so as not to spread Tum’oh to Ben Gurion Terminal buildings, where there may be a Kohen.
Is anyone truly surprised by El Al’s attitude regarding shabbos ? They like the leaders of the Medina don’t care at all. Fly Delta ! Don’t support anti frum policies and the harrassment that Frum yidden face everyday in Eretz Yisroel.
So why do we continue to fly ElAl? If they represent themselves as the “Israel” airline, they need be more Yisroel! Whoever got on the plane Friday morning is responsible for their own chillul shabbos!
B”H! Let’s try to not be overly critical. Everyone arrived safely and I don’t know of another airline that acknowledges HaShem or Shabbos. It wasn’t the most convenient sojourn w regards to shabbos, but it is not the norm for El AL. Thank HaShem for the safe journey and His gift of Shabbos…….
My parents a’h were ehrlich Jews who had simple rules about doing the right thing. Among them were never to travel (even in a car) after 12 noon on a Friday. Anyone who boards an international flight on a friday morning has only himself to blame if they are Mechalel Shabbos. It’s not the fault of the airline, the Medina, or anyone else. We’ll all be much better off when we accept responsibility for our acts and omissions, rather than blaming others!
admitnothing said…
“Is anyone truly surprised by El Al’s attitude regarding shabbos ? They like the leaders of the Medina don’t care at all. Fly Delta ! Don’t support anti frum policies and the harrassment that Frum yidden face everyday in Eretz Yisroel.”
To respond…
1) ElAl is certainly not the ultimate in frumkeit, however they do attempt, albeit not always successfully, to accommodate frum passengers, to keep Shabbas, to maintain kashrus. To say they don’t care at all is simply not true.
2) Fly Delta?!? Delta IS shomer Shabbas?!? Delta doesn’t serve glatt traif food?!? Yes, of course I realize that as a non-Jewish airline they are not obligated or expected to keep halacha, but why would Delta be a better choice than a Jewish airline, which (despite the bad decision made in the case described in this article) DOES generally do the right thing.
3) “the harrassment that Frum yidden face everyday in Eretz Yisroel”??? Yes, “pseudo-frum” Wackos who throw things at little girls, stone buses, and burn dumpsters in the street WILL (and SHOULD)be “harrassed” and face being dragged away to be arrested, but normal frum Yidden do NOT face any harrassment. That is simply NOT true (and while I am the first to criticize the many wrong things the Israeli ‘government’ has done and continues to do) you are being malshin Eretz Yisrael and repeating the chait of the meraglim.
Being upset with ElAl for this incident is justified, but let’s not get carried away with gross, unmerited, untrue generalizations.