I am writing this as a Lakewood mother whose daughter is currently stuck in Israel. And I know I am far from the only one.
Like many heimishe families, we sent our daughters to seminary in Eretz Yisroel this year. It is not easy to send a child across the world, but we do it because we believe in the year of growth and what it gives our daughters.
Then the war broke out. Every mother knows the feeling since then. You go to sleep with the phone next to you. Every alert from Israel makes your heart race. You count the days until your daughter can come home safely.
We booked tickets with El Al when we sent our daughter. And let’s be honest, those seminary tickets are extremely expensive. Parents paid top dollar when booking originally through the seminary specifically because it was El Al. El Al knows very well that seminary families are strong customers, and every year they charge an arm and a leg. The assumption is simple: when things get complicated, El Al will take care of its passengers.
Instead, the tickets were canceled.
Girls who were supposed to come home have suddenly found themselves stranded. There was no proper warning, no organized plan, and no clear communication about what happens next.
These are seminary girls. They packed their bags thinking they were finally coming home to their parents, and instead they are sitting in Israel with no idea when they will be able to leave.
The frustration from parents is indescribable. We are calling, emailing, trying travel agents, trying anything we can. And the response is chaos. Flights appear and disappear. El Al adds flights and then removes them. Seats show up and vanish within minutes. Parents are left refreshing screens and making frantic calls while the airline seems completely disorganized.
Even more painful is what we are hearing around us. While my daughter who paid full price through her seminary group ticket is stuck in Israel, my neighbor, who originally had a United ticket, somehow managed to get a new ticket home through Europe.
Other people are getting seats while these girls who already had confirmed tickets are being left behind.
How does that make sense? Where is the priority for the passengers who already paid top dollar and were already ticketed?
Heimishe families are among the highest-paying customers El Al has. Seminary flights alone bring the airline enormous revenue every year. Parents choose El Al because we believe that when things go wrong, we will be taken care of. Right now it feels like the opposite.
We are not blaming El Al for the war. No one expects an airline to control a war. But we absolutely expect them to manage their passengers responsibly. There should be a clear system. There should be organized rebooking. There should be communication.
And the passengers who already paid should be treated as a priority.
But instead, it feels like people are being shuffled around randomly while families who did everything right are being ignored.
Parents are hearing that Egypt is an option. But for many families that is simply not realistic. We are hearing frightening stories of girls being harassed along the way and mothers are understandably terrified to send seminary girls through that route.
So the girls remain stuck, and their parents remain helpless.
The airline that took our money has yet to show that it is actually taking responsibility for the passengers it already committed to bring home.
At this point many parents are asking the same question: What exactly are we gaining from paying the high prices of El Al if, when things go wrong, we are treated like we don’t matter? If paying top dollar does not secure our daughters a seat home, if confirmed tickets can simply disappear, and if there is no system to make sure stranded passengers are taken care of first, then what exactly are we paying for?
Maybe the painful lesson many families are learning right now is that paying more for El Al does not actually give us security.
And when a mother is sitting in Lakewood worrying about her daughter stuck in Israel while others manage to find their way home, that realization hurts more than words can describe.
Signed,
A Very Concerned Mother
The views expressed in this letter are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of YWN. Have an opinion you would like to share? Send it to us for review.
