August 8, 2012
El Al dithers on honoring cheap fares
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A computer glitch in travel agency websites helped thousands to book El Al flights from the U.S. to Israel at an extremely low cost. Kayak screenshot/ Mark Tang via CC
An El Al spokesperson said the airline had not decided whether or not to honor round-trip tickets to Israel that were offered erroneously for prices as low as $330.
On Wednesday afternoon, the airline issued the following statement via Twitter: “Thanks for your patience. Details/decisions re incorrect fares that were briefly sold on Monday are not finalized. We will update tomorrow.”
The announcement came two days after El Al codeshare flights from several U.S. cities to Israel went on sale for bargain-basement prices due to an error by a subcontractor handling El Al’s winter promotional fares. The round-trip tickets ranging from $330 to $460, including all taxes and fees, were for travel between November and March and included layovers in Europe.
Thanks for your patience. Details/ decisions re incorrect fares that were briefly sold on Monday are not finalized. We will update tomorrow.
— ELAL USA (@ELALUSA) August 8, 2012
On Monday, El Al said via Twitter that it would honor the tickets, which reportedly numbered in the thousands.
“An outside company posted incorrect fares on travel websites, so all tickets sold will indeed be honored,” the company wrote at around 6 p.m., once the inexpensive prices were no longer available.
But on Tuesday, the airline appeared to backtrack, suggesting in a comment to The New York Jewish Week and later in emails to JTA that El Al had not decided conclusively whether or not to honor the purchases.
