El Al agony

I read with utter disgust, “El Al said that it did not blame anybody for events that occurred on the November 15 flight ... [and] promised all of its passengers a round-trip to Europe, as compensation for inconvenience caused by the events” (November 27).

The airline is just trying to do damage control by not admitting that the blame lies with its failure to get the crew to the airport in time and communicate effectively with the passengers.

There is no mention of refunding their fares – the least they could do in my opinion – only offering a midweek trip to some European location that may be of no interest to them – no doubt one on which it has many empty seats – so this “generous offer” won’t cost the airline anything!

No wonder “Haredi reactions to the mishap were furious, with influential Rabbi Sholom Ber Sorotzkin, who was on the flight, announcing a boycott of El Al.”

I fully support his call and urge everyone to do so, whatever their religious orientation, until El Al realizes that its purpose is to serve its customers – who are not merely a nuisance to be tolerated for their money. MARTIN D. STERN

Salford, England

Ultra-Orthodox passengers should not be flying so close to Shabbat. Anything could happen: technical problems, bad weather, etc. HELEN SIMPSON Jerusalem