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Oct 3, 2011
El Al Baggage Policy Change Leads To Protest
The following information is going around by email, and is worth your attention, if you fly between the USA and Israel on occasion.
I just got an e-mail from El Al announcing their "changes and improvements in baggage policy." If you always fly business class or are a gold, platinum, or top flyer, then, yes, there actually are improvements. For the rest of us, a sneaky little change they inserted in their baggage chart (they didn't even write it up as a change because they probably knew how much it would upset people) is that for economy class tickets booked to or from North America from November 1 and on - only ONE SUITCASE of 23 kg (50 lbs) is allowed (even for silver frequent flyers). Yup, that's right - they've just chopped the baggage allowance in half under the very innocuous heading of "changes and improvements." (Go to the bottom of the chart on this link to confirm it for yourselves:
http://www.elal.co.il/ELAL/English/MatmidFrequentFlyer/NewsAndDeals/DealsAndBenefits_items/EN_Baggage_Policy_260911)
In case you figure that you'll just pay for an extra piece of luggage, each ADDITIONAL 23-KG SUITCASE COSTS $70 in each direction! In other words, for most normal flyers who need two pieces of luggage in at least one direction - El Al is effectively raising all economy class ticket prices to North America by $70 - and for those who need two pieces of luggage in both directions - the price is being raised by an astounding $140!!! (a third piece of luggage will cost $240)
I know that charging for a second suitcase has become somewhat of a trend among American airlines (why not milk the passengers for all they're worth, if not more?), but I hope that if enough of us protest loudly enough, we can get El Al to reverse the fee. Below is an e-mail that I am sending to El Al (customer@elal.co.il) - feel free to copy and paste or to make changes or to write your own - but PLEASE DO TAKE TWO MINUTES to do so. It's only if they get a massive number of e-mails that we might have a chance at this. And please FORWARD this to everyone you know who may need to fly El Al to / from North America at any point in the future (and the media as well).I don't know if this form of protest will help, but it is worth a shot and only takes a couple minutes of your time....
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To Whom It May Concern:
I am a Matmid member of El Al since 1986, as are other members of my immediate family. I am shocked to discover that, starting November 1, the baggage allowance of those flying economy class to and from North America is being halved from two pieces of luggage to one.
Since you will now charge $70 for an additional piece of luggage (and $240 for a 3rd piece), you are, in effect, raising the prices of economy class tickets by as much as 50 percent! ($7 each way = $140 total, and tickets to New York are currently available for $999)
This is, of course, totally ridiculous and unacceptable, and entirely out of line with the fees charged by other airlines. For example, KLM allows 2 pieces of luggage between Israel and North America, Alitalia charges $75 for a second piece of luggage to and from North America, and Delta either offers 2 free pieces of luggage, or a second piece at $60.
Until now, I have made it a point of flying El Al as much as possible, but from now on, I would first consider any airline whose baggage policies have remained reasonable, unlike yours. Therefore, I strongly urge you to rethink this new policy and continue allowing all passengers two free pieces of luggage on flights to and from North America.
While I do appreciate your excellent security, and I am quite in favor of supporting our national airline, I am NOT wealthy, and find this new policy totally unreasonable and unacceptable. Should this new policy come into effect, I shall have no choice but to seek out other flying options.
Very truly yours,
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It's not $240 it's a bag it's $70, see http://www.elal.co.il/ELAL/Hebrew/AllAboutYourFlight/BeforeYourFlight/BaggageLuggage/ow_he050509.htm
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at the chart that I linked to above the prices are as follows:
ReplyDeleteNY, Toronto, LA - second piece - $70
NY, Toronto third piece - $230
LA third piece - $240
$70 for a second bag is very much in line with all of the airlines
The fees make no sense. If you have two 23kg bags, then to take 18kg extra, split between both bags, costs only $50 ($25 for the additional weight in each bag), but to instead take an extra 18kg bag costs $230!
ReplyDeleteI apologise if other readers consider this brutal, but get over this change in service by El Al.
ReplyDeleteThere are other airlines serving Israel which, by the very nature of things, will take advantage of El Al's decision and offer better conditions to gain potential passengers.
El Al is not the alpha and the omega of commercial aviation in and out of Israel. This may sound like a religious heresy to some of you but it is a fact.
Oh yeah...I totally forgot that I try to avoid El Al at all costs. Still ridiculous though.
ReplyDeleteThe EMAIL is wrong.
ReplyDeleteEl Al is charging $70 per bag, not $240.
This is no different than what other international carriers are charging.
Why is this EMAIL still being posted?
Is it not a transgression to damage someone's business, even if this were not the asseres hayomim?
can people not protest the change in policy? the airline is still going from 2 suitcases as part of the price to one suitcase, with the 2nd costing extra. it does not matter what other airlines are doing (are they all doing that out of Tel Aviv?), people are used to having 2 suitcases, and that is being cut in half. They have a right to protest.
ReplyDeleteThere is no problem with protesting the change from 2 bags to 1. However, there is a big problem posting false information, there is a very big difference between a $70 fee and a $240 fee.
ReplyDeletei changed it in my post
ReplyDeleteForgot to edit the following, so I did it for you:
ReplyDeleteThis is, of course, entirely in line with the fees charged by other airlines.
Changed:
ReplyDeleteThis is, of course, totally ridiculous and unacceptable, and entirely out of line with the fees charged by other airlines.
To:
This is, of course, entirely in line with the fees charged by other airlines.
(I really don't understand why this EMAIL is still up. It is entirely misleading and unfairly casts El Al in a bad light. Is it so outrageous that they should match the policies of other airlines?)
At first El Al's site indicated any and all extra bags would be $240. They could have been more careful. Now they're getting extra bad press about it.
ReplyDeleteYou are right to try and correct the email as it continues to make the rounds.
In the past El Al did not downgrade services alongside other airlines - for example they still allowed bags to be 70 lbs for 2 years after the other airlines went down to 50.
I found the one or two emails from travel agents, trying to discourage people from complaining, stupid. It definitely makes sense to say something now - perhaps El Al doesn't realize how many of their passengers will seriously consider other options when in the past they didn't.
Would be clever if El Al would sell a "baggage upgrade" at the time of ticket purchase, for a smaller fee than $70 each way.