El Al

Item: El Al Airlines
Rating: 1
Author: eli K

Three days ago I tried booking two tickets and securing them as it was trading at approximately Nine and a half thousand Rand, however, the system did not allow me to secure the tickets for reasons I do not know. I would like to emphasize that I have been doing these booking for over 20 years on many flights within the year hence, this is not my first time. As I am fami**** with the algorithm which is used, I immediately attempted calling El Al office for assistance. I tried for approximately an hour with no success of anyone taking my call. The following day I tried the system and was faced with a repeat of the previous day, the only difference being that now the ticket had increased by approximately a further R1000. As I was not able to reach the South African office, I immediately called the Israel office desperate to secure a ticket before I lose more money off the algorithm. The Israeli office kept me waiting 30 minutes in spite of the fact that I informed them that it is an overseas call. After 30 minutes the Israeli office told me and I quote the exact wording ‘’ We are El Al and can do what we want.’’ I would like to stress that even though, this is your Israeli office, you are the South African representative. I faced a similar incident with another airline, which if need be I will bring their name to your attention and their response was extremely different. I would like to share with you the customer service which I received, they apologized for the inconvenience caused by the fact that their office could not be reached and in the spirit of true South African customer service compensated me for my loss. The differences in experiences tells the entire story of why this is unacceptable. My Second grievance with your organization is that my wife had a ticket ********** 012232, which she purchased a year ago. She wanted to use the ticket at a later stage and was advised by El Al to put her ticket on hold. She now would like to use that ticket to fly from JBG to TA. My disappointment and disgust at the unbelievable arrogance of El Al yields from that she has been told the following by El Al, if the ticket costs more then she will need to pay the difference plus a fee of a 190 USD, however, if the ticket cost less than she loses her money (the difference) and needs to pay the fee of 190 USD. Once again the response she received was ‘’ we are El Al and can do what we want’’. I ask you, is this what is considered fair trade or rather is it the normal bully tactics? ? I challenge El Al to find me one corporate or retailer brand in South Africa which operates according to such policies: If a customer loses money as a result of that fact that there is a fault from the businesses systems, El Al admitted that they were working on short staff over the last few days and hence could not be reached, the business is not prepared to compensate the customer. If there is a difference in price – it works only one way, meaning I have to pay the difference, however, El Al will not compensate me regarding the other way.

Helpful (0)

Replies (0)