Recently a number of complaints have raised concerns of
kashrus problems regarding airplane meals. The problem
has arisen in the case of code-sharing flights in which the
passenger reserves a flight on El Al but the flight is
actually executed by a foreign airline. Traditional
passengers who do not order glatt meals just rely on the
regular kashrus provided by El Al, but since in
practice the passenger does not fly on an El Al plane, the
meal he is served is not kosher at all.
Atty. Mordechai Tzivin, who is active in the Movement for
Fairness in Government, demanded that this information be
brought to passengers' attention by including a message on
tickets, including electronic tickets. "This is a
kashrus stumbling-block for traditional passengers
through lack of information," Tzivin claims.
"Innocent passengers, knowing that meals served on El Al
flights are kosher, assume the meals on a flight by a foreign
company are kosher and sometimes they are led to stumble by
unintentionally consuming real neveilos and
treifos," he wrote in a letter to El Al.
In response El Al denied that passengers are deprived of
information. "Every passenger who orders a plane ticket from
an authorized travel agent receives information prior to the
planned flight. This also applies to El Al flights when the
flight is not carried out on an El Al plane, but on a plane
belonging to a foreign airline with which El Al has a code
sharing agreement.
"At the time of reservation a note appears on the travel
agent's screen indicating that the flight will be executed on
a plane not belonging to El Al. In such a case the agent has
the responsibility to order kosher food in accordance with
the passenger's wishes. This has been the procedure for the
past eight years. Thus there is no stumbling block,
choliloh, of non-kosher food. The same applies
regarding El Al connecting flights executed on planes
belonging to foreign airlines. Travel agents are well aware
of the need to order kosher food."
Atty. Tzivin maintains that many travel agents do not inform
passengers, either due to a lack of time or to laxity
regarding the matter of kashrus.
