Airlines not flying to Israel? Some may be exploiting the situation for profit: The Walla news site reveals that dozens of passengers have complained that El Al has raised the prices of flights to Israel exorbitantly.
For example, a flight to London that costs 434 pounds next week reaches a record price of 735 pounds today, almost half the price. Similarly, prices to Barcelona are becoming astronomical these days.
Angry passengers filled El Al's Facebook and Twitter pages with angry messages: "Yesterday my parents' flight from Italy was canceled. Due to the situation, as you know, foreign airlines canceled their flights to Israel.
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""My parents stood in the middle of the night in front of a closed counter at the Naples airport and didn't know what to do. In our distress, we turned to El Al, the national Israeli airline, to find a flight close to Israel. El Al sold us a flight ticket from Rome to Tel Aviv for $1,055. That's a one-way price! Per person! The exploitation is unbelievable! Has anyone ever heard of such a price for a flight to Europe in economy class? $1,000 one way?
El Al, our national airline, is taking advantage of the situation in the ugliest way! Shame and disgrace! We bought it. There was no choice. My parents had to return.
""Dear El Al, in a few days the situation will calm down, God willing. Foreign airlines will resume flights to Israel, and we promise to settle accounts with you. We, personally, would prefer any other company over El Al. Think about it!""
Another passenger said on Facebook: "I was stuck at the airport in Istanbul, so I decided to cut to Amsterdam and there I discovered that an El Al flight to Israel was being sold at an exorbitant price of $1,100 one way.".
Transportation Minister Israel Katz said today at a press conference that the CEO of El Al had pledged to him that he would not raise prices. The other Israeli companies also made a similar commitment.
El Al provided the following response: "In the past 24 hours, El Al has been making efforts to strengthen its flights and service network. Among other things, the company added two flights to Greece and Cyprus, expanded and allocated wide-body aircraft with hundreds of additional seats to European destinations. The company also expanded the hours of operation of the call center in order to provide a response to as many Israeli passengers as possible around the world.
It is important to note that ticket prices were set in advance in accordance with the peak season for Israeli tourism during the summer vacation and were not changed due to flight cancellations by foreign airlines.".
