Kan Moreshet journalist Dov Eichler caused an uproar online on Monday, after attacking El Al’s price increase following flight cancellations of foreign companies due to the security situation.
"I have no complaints against El Al, who are now charging an arm and a leg for every flight following the wave of cancellations," he wrote. "My complaint is against Israel that does not immediately stop all subsidies to El Al and is even compensating it for all extras that the airline has received for years from the Israeli taxpayer's money."
In response, journalist Kobi Bornstein also wrote: "But you must applaud El Al because they brought reserve soldiers from around the world at the beginning of the war. And now we are all paying for it. Do you want to go abroad while most airlines have canceled their flights? Isn’t it great that we have a national airline, that will not take advantage of the situation at all and will take you anywhere for a measly price of only a trillion dollars per ticket?
"The state will of course continue to give this failing company many benefits and grants that are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, because ‘it is our national company. A national company should not take advantage of the citizens like this. They have no shame."
Journalist Merav Sever wrote: "I paid 1,000 dollars for a flight to Paris." Simcha Tauman wrote: "It's not an arm and a leg, it’s 'only’ one thousand dollars. It's as if they're telling us, or we fly with El Al for the rest of our lives, or for one flight out of 30 that we are traveling with them, we will pay for all 30 together."
El Al responded that "with the return of the Ben Gurion International Airport to routine operations, El Al is operating its flight schedule after making certain adjustments. We are working to stabilize the flight schedule as soon as possible and recommend that all passengers verify their updated departure time before leaving for the airport. We remind you that all changes in the flight schedule are detailed on the El Al website. El Al and Sun Dor (subsidiary) had to cancel a total of 34 flights so far."
El Al announced that it offers "convenient and fixed prices for a one-way flight to Israel, with the intention of enabling passengers whose flights on foreign airlines were canceled to return to Israel. Examples of prices are as follows; from Athens - $217, from Paris - $361, from London - $314 (Luton), $412 (Heathrow), from Amsterdam - $347, from New York - $795, and from Miami - $849. Sun Dor flights: from Larnaca - $150, from Kyiv/Krakow - $250 and from Warsaw - $265. Prices are valid until April 20 (inclusive). The full list of destinations is available on the El Al website and at travel agents.
Earlier last night, El Al announced that it allows its customers a flexible change and cancellation policy: "All passengers whose flight is scheduled to take off by Saturday, April 20 (inclusive) are entitled to the following terms – changing the flight date (bringing earlier or postponing) will be possible without extra fees and without price differences, if the new departure date is until Saturday, April 20 (inclusive); canceling the flight and receiving a voucher at full value to redeem in the future for El Al flights.”
El Al also stated: "We would like to emphasize that bringing forward or postponing a flight is conditional on the flights flying at the new chosen time. El Al will continue to preserve the air connections from and to Israel, as much as possible, while providing a solution to all passengers wherever they may be."