United Airlines has canceled a series of flights to Israel this week, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded with no alternative way to get to the Jewish State in the coming days.
The flights were scheduled for March 7, March 8 and March 9.
United issued a statement to customers to explain the move, apologizing for the “inconvenience,” and citing “policies of the Israeli government” as the cause of the cancelation.
There were no changes on the twice-daily flight on El Al Airlines, however.
Both United and Delta Airlines have been given mixed messages from the government this week, having been forced to cut one of their two daily flights to and from Israel.
Zion Tours Jerusalem CEO Mark Feldman told The Jerusalem Post in an interview Tuesday that both airlines were told by the government over the weekend that they could only fly seven flights a week to New York, instead of the 10 flights to New York and the four flights to San Francisco they had previously scheduled.
“This is because the government changed its mind and decided that only 1,000 people could be let into the country each day instead of the 3,000 that had been previously agreed. Both airlines were forced to cancel their afternoon flights and keep their nighttime flights,” Feldman said.
“That means if you were booked for a late flight you’re fine but if your flight was in the afternoon either your travel agent is booking you on alternative flights or you are on your own.”
However, a spokesperson for United Airlines told the newspaper that hours earlier the government had rescinded the limit and allowed United and Delta to restore those limits as of next Tuesday, March 16.
That’s fine — unless someone in the government decides to make another change at the last minute and once again sends everyone back into scrambling for a Plan B with just one week to go before Pesach.
Maybe it’s just best not to travel this time around . . .