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El Al’s new marketing program remains firmly in the headlines following its attempts to recruit business class passengers from Lufthansa, British Airways, Turkish Airlines, Delta and Continental Airlines.  Having this week sent notices to travel agents offering them vouchers if they provide the details of specific customers of Turkish Airlines; some of the companies are planning to take alternative marketing steps or even legal action against El Al’s activities.

Israel Educational and Travel has been told that the directors of a number of foreign airlines involved have sought legal advice, to check into the legality of the matter, specifically regarding secrecy between customer and agent.  Another issue under investigation is whether El Al has committed offences relating to antitrust law.

It was impossible to obtain an official reaction from the managers of the airlines involved or from Avi Friedman the chairman of the panel of foreign airlines who refused to comment on the matter. However representatives of two of the airlines said during a closed discussion that they were not willing to ignore the issue “What El Al did was below the belt and in the real world such a thing can result in a heavy fine.”

As such Ofer Kisch, the general manager of Lufthansa in Israel, recently sent a letter to the agents, pleading with them to keep complete secrecy on all commercial information relating to Lufthansa. “Every transfer or disclosure of commercial information, whether rewarded or not, regarding Lufthansa’s club members may be regarded as a breach of law; because it involves the stealing of commercial secrets and the invasion of privacy.”

Kisch also added that Lufthansa would not hesitate to implement its rights under the law in order to protect its commercial ownership and if needed of the rights of Lufthansa’s passengers.