Aviation Card Battle: El Al Demands Removal of Max Ad

The winds in the aviation club industry are not calming down. The "Matmid" (Frequent Flyer) company of El Al turned on Tuesday to the Second Authority for Television and Radio, demanding an order for the immediate removal of the new advertising spot by the Max company for the SkyMax card, which went on air about a week and a half ago. In this campaign, Max attacks both the Fly Card of the Frequent Flyer program and the FlyAll card of Cal.

The intense struggle in the industry began several months ago, after Isracard succeeded in taking from Cal the franchise for managing the "Matmid" club of El Al (about 550,000 customers) and issuing the flagship Fly Card. The war quickly moved to marketing war rooms with the recruitment of expensive presenters like Deni Avdija and Niv Sultan against Gal Malka and Matan Peretz, and also spilled over into legal venues and regulators.

In mid-July, El Al already recorded a first achievement against Cal, after the Second Authority accepted its claims and ordered Cal to remove central statements from its campaign for the FlyAll card. This time, in El Al's crosshairs is the campaign of Max, which went on air on July 20. In the advertisement, starring Lucy Ayoub and Shahar Hason, Max frontally attacks the three main redemption limitations of the Fly Card.

"One company offers you a credit card that will accumulate points for a limited flight ticket: limited in the number of seats, in destinations, only in one airline," says Ayoub in the spot. This statement led to El Al's appeal to the Second Authority, claiming that it is a misrepresentation and a blatant deception of viewers, and the company is even considering taking legal action.

In a letter sent to the Second Authority, El Al dissociates itself and rejects entirely the three claims of Max. Regarding the claim of flying on "only one airline," El Al claims that club members can redeem points in dozens of foreign airlines with which the company has cooperation agreements (codeshare). Regarding the claim of seat and destination limitations, El Al claims that points can be redeemed for any flight, on any date, in any class, and to any destination on the company's website without limitation.

However, the question of whether the Authority will accept El Al's position this time as well depends on the reference to the reservations and various clauses in El Al's regulations. For example, in the Matmid regulations, it is explicitly written that El Al is entitled to determine, at its sole discretion, days, periods, or flights on which it will not be possible to use points, and even "to limit the number of seats available for bonus tickets." Furthermore, El Al notes in its letter to the Authority that the purchase of bonus tickets fully with points constitutes only about 30% of all flights purchased with points.

Max responded: "We welcome the competition in the field of aviation cards. Fly Card is a great card for El Al customers, but it is limited in the ability to use it in all airlines, and the refund is given in complicated points and not in money back for flights and vacations. Don't let them confuse you – SkyMax is the only card that also returns money on all your purchases for flights and in addition accumulates for you a cashback of about 10% for the next vacation."