Israel Matzav

Sunday, January 04, 2015

If only they'd fly to Israel....

Saudi Arabian Airlines has decided to segregate men and women on all its flights.

Now, if only they'd fly to Israel....

Labels: El Al, Saudi Arabian Airlines

Sunday, August 04, 2013

Delta Airlines bows to BDS, gets rid of Kosher snack on flights to Israel

It's been about two years now since Delta Airlines allowed Saudi Arabian Airlines to join its Sky Miles program. That event caused such a scandal that Delta, which is one of three airlines that flies directly from the US to Israel (El Al and Continental/United are the others), was forced to promise that they would never ask for their passengers' religious affiliations.

Now, it is reported that, prodded by BDS'ers, Delta has agreed to stop serving a Halva snack, supervised by Jerusalem's Badatz Eida Haredith on its flights to and from Israel, because the snack is manufactured in the Barkan industrial zone in Samaria (Hat Tip: Ze'ev).

Who Profits, a research project of the Tel Aviv-based Coalition of Women for Peace, learned that Delta Air Lines will stop serving the Ahva Vanilla Halva bar, three weeks after a customer filed a complaint with the company’s legal department.

In the copy of Delta’s email to the customer that I received from Who Profits, Delta Air Lines writes:

From: Delta Customer Care <custrel@delta.com>
Date: Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 8:00 PM
Subject: Delta Air Lines (KMM25201657V70362L0KM)
To: [redacted]
RE: Case Number # [redacted]
Dear Ms. [redacted]
We are in receipt of your letter to the Delta Law Department dated July 2, 2013 and the subsequent communication sent on July 25, 2013. We apologize for the delay in our response.
Delta has notified our local catering company to discontinue serving the Vanilla Halva bar in meals onboard Delta flights from Israel.
Please let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Specialist, Corporate Customer Care
Delta Air Lines
WhoProfits (whoprofits.org) did not release the name of the customer, at the customer’s request.

The source of the report is Ali Abunimah's anti-Semitic Electronic Intifada. They claim that they contacted Delta and that Delta had no comments about this report.

I have not flown Delta at all since 2005, and I have never flown them between the US and Israel. You can bet I won't start now. And you shouldn't either. I'm waiting to see how much longer it takes before Delta tries to give up the routes to Israel.

Labels: BDS, Delta Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Saudi Arabian Airlines to be banned from JFK Airport for discriminating against Israeli nationals?

Saudi Arabian Airlines may be banned from New York's JFK International Airport for discriminating against Israeli nationals.

At a press conference in Times Square Monday, De Blasio said that he sent a letter today urging Khalid Abdullah Almolhem, Director General of Saudi Arabian Airlines, to change the policy or else face consequences.

“Saudi Arabian Airlines uses U.S. airports and yet bans Israeli citizens from being able to fly on their airline,” he said. If the airline does not change their policy, “we will act to make sure they’re excluded from United States airports, starting with JFK,” De Blasio said.

In addition to JFK, Saudi Airlines also flies out of Washington D.C.’s Dulles International Airport.

The issue was originally brought to the attention of De Blasio’s office by passengers who attempted to fly the airline, but were rebuffed. An investigation into the matter by his office confirmed the airline’s prejudice. Attempts to book tickets by a staffer in his office posing as an Israeli national both through the airline’s website and over the phone proved the complaints were founded on truth.

In the case of the airline’s website, a drop down menu does not include Israel, though it was otherwise so comprehensive that even Antarctica appeared as an option, though, as De Blasio pointed out, “in fact, there are no citizens of Antarctica.” The faux Israeli staffer was also rebuffed when calling over the telephone to reserve a seat, being told by a ticket agent he could not fly the airline.

The discriminatory practice violates federal law, which says an “air carrier or foreign air carrier may not subject a person in air transportation to discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex or ancestry,” as well as several New York State laws.

Obviously, this is an old story. But I wonder why any Israeli would want to fly Saudi Airlines. The only place to which they fly from the US is Saudi Arabia and they won't let Israelis off the plane there anyway. I wonder if they'd let an American whose passport was issued in Jerusalem into Saudi Arabia. And whether I could bring my tefillin along.

In the meantime El Al still can't join an airline alliance.

Labels: JFK Airport, our friends the Saudis, Saudi Arabian Airlines

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Delta Airlines promises it will never ask religious affiliation

In light of Delta Airlines' admission of Saudia to its SkyMiles program, Delta has promised that it will never ask for the religious affiliation of its passengers.

Following weeks of mounting criticism from Jews, Christians, Hindus and others, Delta Airlines has put in writing that it will never request that its customers disclose their religious affiliation. A letter to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, from a Senior Vice President, read in part, “Delta employees do not currently and will not in future, request that customers declare their religious affiliation. We would also not seek such information on behalf of any SkyTeam partner or any airline.” (Read letter here).

That's all well and good folks, but do you really think the Saudis won't know a passenger's religious affiliation if he orders a Kosher meal? (Not to mention that I am sure that there are no Kosher meals available on any flight departing Saudi Arabia).

Labels: Delta Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines

Saturday, July 02, 2011

Did Delta get a bum rap?

Shavua tov v'Chodesh tov - a good week and a good month to everyone.

I am sure you all recall the recent uproar over Delta Airlines allowing Saudi Arabian Airlines to join its Sky Miles program. USA Today has written an article sympathetic to Delta, which claims that they got a bum rap (Hat Tip: Racquel R).

Because Saudi Arabian Airlines is becoming a member of SkyTeam, Delta was singled out in reports that ran Thursday and were passed around social media. U.S. carriers already partner with other airlines that fly to Saudi Arabia, including Air France and the German airline Lufthansa.

On Friday, Republican Sen. Mark Kirk said he wrote to the Federal Aviation Administration to ask for an investigation into whether Delta "violated U.S. law or regulation and to ensure no U.S. citizen is denied their right to fly solely on the basis of their religion."

Delta said on Friday that it does not discriminate, and pointed out that it doesn't fly to Saudi Arabia or codeshare with any airline that does. It said it does not plan to codeshare with Saudi Arabian Airlines. (A codeshare is when an airline places its flight designator, or "code," onto a flight operated by a different airline. The arrangement allows airlines to sell tickets on each other's flights.) Delta does have what's called an "interline agreement" with Saudi Arabian Airlines, which allows tickets to be sold that include multiple airlines for multiple legs of the trip.

Earlier this month Delta faced a public outcry after two soldiers complained in a video posted on YouTube that their unit returning from Afghanistan was charged $200 each to check a fourth bag. Delta ended up changing its baggage policy to allow four bags for free for troops in coach.

It has been pointed out to me that American's program now includes Etihad Airlines, which is the airline of Abu Dhabi, which also allegedly does not admit Jews or other people who have been to Israel. American's program also includes Royal Jordanian, which does allow Israelis to fly to Jordan.

It has also been pointed out to me that both Lufthansa (which is in United's Mileage Plus program) and Air France (which I believe is also in Sky Miles) both fly to Saudi Arabia, and that Delta is one of three US airlines (US Air and Continental are the others) who fly to Israel from the US. (For the record, American code shared briefly with El Al in late 2008 but was forced to stop when the FAA declared Ben Gurion Airport unsafe. American cannot fly to Israel itself because of the way in which it purchased TWA's route system. TWA used to fly here).

I also know several people who have visited both Israel and Saudi Arabia (and for that matter, Israel and the Emirates - one of which is Abu Dhabi). I do not know many Israelis who have done so, and I know Americans who carry two separate passports - one for Israel and one for the Arab world.

So is this blown out of proportion? I'd certainly prefer to see Saudi Arabia isolated (I don't know of any other country in the world that routinely confiscates non-Muslim religious articles) until they can treat non-Muslims normally. But I don't think accusations that Delta is anti-Israel are warranted.

Labels: Delta Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines

Sunday, June 26, 2011

US Senator wants to investigate Delta-Saudi Arabian Airways connection

US Senator Mark Kirk (R-Il) has demanded an investigation into Delta Airlines' new marketing deal with Saudi Arabian Airlines, pursuant to which Saudi Air has become a member of the Sky Miles program.

Illinois Republican Sen. Mark Kirk wrote Federal Aviation Administration Administrator J. Randolph Babbit Friday and urged him to “determine whether Delta Airlines violated US law or regulation and to ensure no US citizen is denied their right to fly solely on the basis of their religion.”

Kirk was referring to news reports which alleged that as a result of Delta expanding its SkyTeam network of member airlines to include Saudi Arabian Airlines, on flights bound for Saudi Arabia Delta itself would comply with Saudi requirements regarding who can arrive in the country, which could lead to the exclusion of Jews. The SkyTeam expansion was announced in January and is set to begin in 2012.

The charge seems to rest on the need for US passengers to possess a visa to Saudi Arabia in order to board a flight destined to the Gulf state, and Saudi Arabia is widely believed to not grant visas to most Jews as well as people of any faith who have Israeli entry stamps in their passports.

It is common practice for airlines in the same alliance to codeshare on flights and allow customers to transfer frequent flier miles between companies, which critics of the move by Delta charge makes the American airline even more complicit in the Saudi carrier’s practices.

But Trebor Banstetter, a Delta spokesman, emailed The Jerusalem Post a statement saying that in the case of Saudi Arabian Airlines, “Delta does not operate service to Saudi Arabia and does not codeshare with any airline that serves that country. Delta does not intend to codeshare or share reciprocal benefits, such as frequent flier benefits.”

He continued, “Delta’s only agreement with Saudi Arabian Airlines is a standard industry interline agreement, which allows passengers to book tickets on multiple carriers, similar to the standard interline agreements American Airlines, US Airways and Alaska Airlines have with Saudi Arabian Airlines.”

Banstetter did not respond to requests seeking further clarification.

That's pretty similar to a comment that (purported) Delta employee Susan Elliott put on Lisa Graas' blog after Lisa picked up the story from me.

But those assertions have not done a whole lot to quell the outrage. On Friday, the Simon Wiesenthal Center attacked Delta (which also flies to Israel from New York - and in the summer from Atlanta) for allying itself with the Wahhabi Muslim kingdom.

“We call on Delta Airlines to end its partnership agreement with Saudi Arabian Airlines," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean of the Center (pictured left). "Such an agreement de facto amounts to discrimination against Jews and Israelis." Hier said that the Center does not accept Delta’s position that it must comply with the applicable laws of every country and that this a matter to be taken up by the State Department. "This agreement violates all the principles for which the United States stands for," he added.

Rabbi Hier said that at a time where the entire world is focused on the Arab Spring, hoping that it will lead to full freedom and democratic rights, Delta is taking a step backwards by endorsing bigotry and anti-Semitism. He concluded: "You can’t partner with someone then claim, ‘you have nothing to do with it' Would the airline enter into an agreement that barred, blacks, women, or Catholics from flying?"

I saw a similar comment from Rabbi Shmuelly Boteach (sorry, I won't link that because it's behind a paywall) in which he compared Delta's action to an airline agreeing to codeshare with South African Airways during the apartheid era.

Here's Dr. Zuhdi Jasser of the American-Islamic Forum for Democracy with a Muslim reaction to this story.

Let's go to the videotape.

The only one defending Delta that I've seen is a blog post in the Wall Street Journal, which says to blame the Saudis and not Delta.

Saudi Arabia requires a visa for most foreigners entering its country, and the kingdom denies visas to people who a stamp in their passport from Israel. (When applying for a visa, you send in your passport.) Many believe the strict Islamic nation routinely denies visas to people it believes are Jewish. The Saudi visa application asks you to state your religion.

Without a visa, no airline can board a passenger for a flight to that country. Anytime you fly internationally, your documents get checked by the airline before you board. If a visa is required and you don’t have one, the airline can’t fly you there only to have you sent back.

Delta is entering into a partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines through its SkyTeam Alliance, beginning next year. Delta planes don’t actually fly there, but Delta customers will be riding on Saudi Arabian through an interline agreement. (They already do that today through a standard interline agreement.) Delta says it won’t code-share with Saudi Arabian — place its flight code on Saudi flights– and won’t offer reciprical frequent flier benefits. Like any airline, Delta can’t board Saudi-bound passengers without a visa.

It would be the same on Lufthansa or British Airways or Air France flights to Riyadh, or for that matter on their U.S. code-sharing partners–United, US Airways or American. Without a visa, American won’t board you for a flight to London if your ticket connects you to Saudi Arabia. In terms of airline policy, there’s nothing new.

No, there is something new. No US carrier has ever allowed the Saudis (or the Syrians or the Iranians or any other Arab airline other than Jordan or possibly Egypt) into their frequent flier program. It's bad enough people still go to Saudi Arabia. There's no need to give their national airline more business because of it.

Labels: Delta Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Sky Miles