Haredim refuse to sit next to women on El Al flight, causing '11-hour-nightmare'

El Al passengers on New York-Israel flight claim Haredi men refused to sit next to women, even offering secular passengers money to switch seats, delaying flight's departure. 

Itay Blumenthal  

Ynet - 09.25.14

Passengers aboard an El Al flight from New York's JKF airport to Israel claim that hundreds of ultra-Orthodox passengers demanded that they trade places with them before takeoff, saying they cannot sit next to women. 
"It was an 11-hour long nightmare," one of the passengers summed up her experience.  
On Wednesday morning, the eve of Rosh Hashanah, thousands of Israeli and Jewish passengers landed in Israel, including scores of ultra-Orthodox Jews who decided to celebrate the Jewish New Year in the Holy Land. However, things didn't go so smoothly on one El Al flight carrying a large group of haredim, as well as secular Jews, that departed from New York's JFK and landed in Israel at 5 am Wednesday. According to the passengers who were on the plane, their fellow ultra-Orthodox travelers refused to sit next to women prior to the takeoff, which not only delayed the flight, but caused actual chaos to ensue on the plane.  

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