EL AL Matmid - Letter I sent to ELAL today voicing my fraustrations

Dear sir/madam.

I had a client arriving to LHR on flight 315 today, I sent one of my workers to Heathrow (a 2 hour drive) to collect this passenger.
Before him leaving to the airport, I checked your website for the most updated flight information, as your website is famous for its being un-user friendly, the easiest way was to check the flight updates and alerts page where every serious delay should be reported. The website said all flights are running as scheduled, my worker left to Heathrow only to arrive to find out that the flight is delayed with 5 hours! I ended up paying for 5 hours of wasted time!
As a professional airline the minimum expected is a updated and professional flight information service (many recall the telephone flight information line for JFK which used to be 1 year out of date)

As a frequent traveller to TLV (gold with both Sky tean and with star alliance) but unfortunately very rarely on ELAL, I would like to explain to you, why although I have a love for Israel and it's national airline, and you offer such a great in flight service and great short haul C product, many many travellers avoid you at all costs.

1. You lack the professional standard which most other airlines have, by flying old aircraft and a website which is always giving you errors etc. it gives the impression of some sloppy third world airline. I understand getting rid of your old aircraft, although you should do so is a very big expense, but why don't you do the small investment in IT and have a decent website like most airlines, (one which would automatically list flights delayed by 5 hours!)

2. Your long haul C and F product are long out of date, business class seats on many airlines are far better than your F seats, the passengers up front are the ones airlines chase and make most money on, while you drive them away!

3. Matmid program: ELAL has the downside it has no decent alliance with other airlines, it would need a frequent flier program far better than other airlines to give passengers reason to leave a convenient alliance, but instead has a frequent flyer program which lacks very far behind the others, it seems that nobody at ELAL really understands to the current world competition of FF programs.

I would advise you to monitor (and have a rep which visits more than once a year) the ELAL forum on flyer talk, you will discover there many of your loyal customers (plenty of platinum's and even top platinum members) who are very fraustrated about the mentioned points and are considering leaving you.

I have better what to do with my time then lecture you, I'm getting a perfect service etc. from other airlines, but would really prefer to have these issues resolved and be flying ELAL, and todays delay really .......... me off!!!

I never use the airline websites to track arrival times they are almost never accurate, always use the airport website such as Ben Gurion or the other destination's airport website.
For heathrow use http://www.heathrowairport.com/flight-information/live-flight-arrivals

For flights to USA I use the real time flight tracker websites.

Im not sure who I feel worse for- the client or your employee :(

but would really prefer to have these issues resolved and be flying ELAL, and todays delay really pissed me off!!!

Did you really use the word "pissed"???

You lack the professional standard...

Rambling, unfocused and replete with grammatical and spelling errors. Not exactly a professional letter.

Rambling, unfocused and replete with grammatical and spelling errors. Not exactly a professional letter.

My problem with it is that the letter is simply too emotional.

Rambling, unfocused and replete with grammatical and spelling errors. Not exactly a professional letter.

Thanks for your kind compliments, you seem to be such a good natured person.

I'm not trying to pose as a professional, i'm a simple customer which shouldn't matter how my grammer and spelling is.

...
As a professional airline the minimum expected...


...1. You lack the professional standard which most other airlines have...

Thanks for your kind compliments.

I'm not trying to pose as a professional, i'm a simple customer which shouldn't matter how my grammer and spelling is.

I wouldn't complain to an airline about being unprofessional without at least using a simple spell check in my own work. It's hard to come across seriously when there are repeated spelling and grammatical errors in your letter.

I really hope whoever reads this letter sees the same irony that I did when reading it.

I wouldn't complain to an airline about being unprofessional without at least using a simple spell check in my own work. It's hard to come across seriously when there are repeated spelling and grammatical errors in your letter.

I really hope whoever reads this letter sees the same irony that I did when reading it.

The airline who is a professional company is supposed to come across professional, while me as a private person does not have to be professional in all 5 languages I talk, and the airline should only concern what business I can bring to them and not how my English grammer is.

The airline who is a professional company is supposed to come across professional, while me as a private person does not have to be professional in all 5 languages I talk, and the airline should only concern what business I can bring to them and not how my English grammer is.

I can speak three languages, but I only write in one because I am only proficient in one.

While I agree that you have no need to be professional as a customer or worry about English grammar, if someone is to judge a professional standard they themselves should at least be credible and professional.

Dear Mr. .................,

I thank you for your email from which I was sorry to read of your disappointment with certain aspects of our service.

I was present at a meeting this week with El Al management including those responsible for our website. I submitted a report of your feedback as well as other passengers comments. In my report I mentioned updated flight information on our website if there is a delay, your dissatisfaction with our aircraft, matmid program etc. There will be improvements to our aircraft this year and I hope that our passengers will notice changes.

I apologize that you were not informed of the delay when your client flew to Heathrow.

I very much hope that you will reconsider your decision to avoid choosing El Al and that you will grant us the opportunity to serve you in the future.

I wish you and your family, ‘shana tova’ a happy and healthy new year.

Yours sincerely,



Caroline Low

Supervisor-Customer Care

Dear Mr. .................,

I thank you for your email from which I was sorry to read of your disappointment with certain aspects of our service.

I was present at a meeting this week with El Al management including those responsible for our website. I submitted a report of your feedback as well as other passengers comments. In my report I mentioned updated flight information on our website if there is a delay, your dissatisfaction with our aircraft, matmid program etc. There will be improvements to our aircraft this year and I hope that our passengers will notice changes.

I apologize that you were not informed of the delay when your client flew to Heathrow.

I very much hope that you will reconsider your decision to avoid choosing El Al and that you will grant us the opportunity to serve you in the future.

I wish you and your family, ‘shana tova’ a happy and healthy new year.

Yours sincerely,



Caroline Low

Supervisor-Customer Care

Well, better than the stock responses most airlines use.
But...didnt really seem substantial.

It's always best to make a clear, succinct complaint when you contact a business about customer service. And, yes, that includes checking for spelling errors and grammar and not using crude terms like the one that was mentioned. If you expect to be taken seriously by the person on the other end reading the letter that is ...

You start out with a legitimate complaint about not being able to access real-time flight information. Good. But then you launch into every other complaint you have about the airline and it's hard to tell what your real beef is. I've worked in the past in customer service. A letter such as the one you sent was what we called an "everything but the kitchen sink" complaint.

When I'm writing something formal in a language other than English, I always show it to a native speaker first. That's just good practice when writing something in a language that's not your first language.

:)

Thanks for your kind compliments, you seem to be such a good natured person.

I'm not trying to pose as a professional, i'm a simple customer which shouldn't matter how my grammer and spelling is.

But if your going to complain about professionalism and cite examples of how EL AL has affected your business, you should care about your grammer and spelling. Wouldn't you rather the reader of the letter was taking you seriously as opposed to grading your missive with a red pen?

But if your going to complain about professionalism and cite examples of how EL AL has affected your business, you should care about your grammer and spelling. Wouldn't you rather the reader of the letter was taking you seriously as opposed to grading your missive with a red pen?


I think after the first posting regarding spelling etc, the message was clear.We all get it..its a distraction...

Despite that, the FT member still decided to share the response the airline provided with the FT community..and still the response is about grammar and spelling.Why go back to this point?

The point was that the flight was delayed and you didn't get the correct information. All of the other gripes are irrelevant to this complaint. If the airline and its seats and aircraft are so bad then don't book them - they will soon get the mesage if their planes are empty.

This email wont be taken seriously so the OP time wasted his time.

I never use the airline websites to track arrival times they are almost never accurate, always use the airport website such as Ben Gurion or the other destination's airport website.
For heathrow use http://www.heathrowairport.com/flight-information/live-flight-arrivals

For flights to USA I use the real time flight tracker websites.

I use:
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/
which tracks flights not just in the US. Just now tracking my daughter flying Amman-Doha-Delhi-Katmandu