Answers to Questions by Yair Davidiy (19 October 2017, 29 Tishrei, 5778)
How should El Al have handled a request from an Orthodox Jewish man who did not want to be seated next to a woman on a flight?
https://www.quora.com/How-should-El-Al-have-handled-a-request-from-an-Orthodox-Jewish-man-who-did-not-want-to-be-seated-next-to-a-woman-on-a-flight/answer/Yair-Davidiy
What is the Big Deal? El Al tries to please its customers. It has a special department for this purpose and goes out of its way to meet as many requests as possible including unusual ones. El Al provides a good, secure service.
Life is short. Try to get along with as many people as you can. Do not look for enemies. Let them find you and be sure they will.
The money of an Orthodox Jew is as good as or better than, the money of anybody else.
If that is what he wants why should EL AL not try and give it to him?
When people sit besides each other they sometimes inadvertently touch.
Some even touch not inadvertently.
They also start up conversations. Fair enough. Why not?
Not everybody wants this however.
Why force it on them?
I was once sitting in a bus in Jerusalem.
A young woman with a baby came and sat next to me.
She took out a naked breast and suckled the baby.
I did not really mind BUT others may have.
I am an Orthodox Jew and look like one. If others had have seen what was going on they may have raised their eyebrows.
To obviate situations like that Orthodox Jews in some areas have their own bus lines with separate seating.
These bus lines usually provide a service that is more punctual, more frequent, faster, more comfortable, and cheaper.
Orthodox Jews fly quite frequently. El Al knows what it is doing when it accommodates Jewish Orthodox seating requests.