Ultra-Orthodox Haredi Jews Cause ’11-Hour Long Nightmare’ On Flight, You Won’t Believe Their Request
When flying, passengers have caused quite a few problems with their odd behavior and quirky requests. While flight attendants have mostly been polite enough to sort out the issues, they were stumped about how to pacify a large number of ultra-Orthodox Jews who were recently on their way to Israel from New York.
On Wednesday, the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the El Al flight from New York to Tel-Aviv, Israel, was carrying a large number of ultra-Orthodox Jews intending to celebrate the Jewish New Year in Israel, alongside a number of secular Jews. However, as reported by Shalom Life, the flight did not take off on time. The ultra-Orthodox Jews had a few objections about the seating arrangements.
Apparently, the Haredi Jewish passengers demanded segregation. They weren’t referring to the racial attributes, but rather more elementary distinction. These passengers strongly demanded that the women be seated elsewhere.
Haredi Jewish passengers refused to sit next to women, and allegedly caused quite a commotion in the plane, which prevented it from taking off on time. It was pandemonium, shared Amit Ben-Natan, a passenger on-board the flight.
“People stood in the aisles and refused to go forward. Although everyone had tickets with seat numbers that they purchased in advance, they asked us to trade seats with them, and even offered to pay money, since they cannot sit next to a woman. It was obvious that the plane won’t take off as long as they’re standing in the aisles.”
Eventually, the Haredi passengers were convinced to sit down in their demarcated seats for take-off, but other passengers said they were quite harried, with one describing the entire journey as an “11-hour long nightmare,” referring to the difficulty before take-off and the ensuing disturbances on board, reported The Independent.
Apparently, despite being coaxed into sitting down, the Haredi Jewish passengers quickly jumped out of their seats once the “fasten seatbelt” sign was turned off. Though the airline and the on-board service personnel might have had a tough time, the company managed to offer a completely non-committal, but politically correct, response.
“El Al does everything it can to give its passengers the best possible service all year-round. These days bring with them a peak in air traffic to Israel, and our crews on the ground and in the air are doing the best they can to address the needs and requests of all our travellers while trying not to fall behind schedule.”
[Image Credit | Biyokulule]
