Second, I think that the CEO of El Al was very foolish and short-sighted to not provide you with a ticket. In fact, I think he should have provided both you and your sister with a ticket. As you mentioned in your story (which sounds very interesting) you paid for a parking ticket for someone buying a 90 cent cone - and got many times over the revenue, good will, and a great story.

In my opinion, you should not fly El Al this Spring and you should let them know exactly why. They had a chance to earn a great deal of good will - many times over the cost of the ticket - and they blew it.

Also my condolence. Thank you for this very personal story. I never flew with any of the airlines you put up for choice. The El Al story is a disappointing one. I am working with top managers of very large corporations from time to time. I have to confess, many of those managers have a very abstract idea about what a customer is. They are caught in visions, reports, numbers, ideas. They probably don’t recognize a customer, when standing in front of one. It’s too unreal for them. –John

P.S: Thinking about the choice of airline. I would go for the safest and most reliable one (technical and security wise), and best price/service ratio. If those are a match, I wouldn’t fly El Al.

Greetings from the Canaries.

I think the management at El Al are very short sighted - by supporting you in a vulnerable time they had so much more opportunity to win you over for life, especially as you showed potential for more than one flight to Israel.

The fact that you had rung and spoken to Sheryl would be the extra incentive for me if I was at El Al - you told them you couldn’t use it straight away so they may as well acknowledge that.

Look at what it is costing El Al to have NOT given you a ticket - there are now a number of people who dislike EL Al and would prefer another airline. With the power of the net, they would cost them a lot more than the $1500 fare you could have paid.

As for asking you for $2000 - I think that was unnecessary and even rude. You didn’t just ask for a freebie, you were asking about a prize they had voluntarily awarded.