Delta Airlines Gets Punked With Prank Call and Learns Middle East Geography

Last week Delta Airlines learned a Middle East geography lesson the hard way -- by callers challenging its use of the term "Occupied Palestinian Territory" as one of its international destinations, and by being the butt of a prank phone call that's going viral on YouTube.

It seems that for an unknown period of time, Delta was listing Occupied Palestinian Territory as a destination for members of its SkyMiles frequent flyer program. When the Jerusalem Post contacted Delta for clarification, Delta immediately removed the term from their website.

As Ben Hartman wrote in the Jerusalem Post,

A media relations official from the company said "the phrase was mistakenly posted to our web site and immediately removed when brought to our attention."

It does not appear that the wording was intentionally used in order to attract customers who would not like to read the word "Israel" when booking a holiday, as Israel can clearly be seen in the list of destinations as well.

The Palestinian territories have no operational airport. The Yassir Arafat International Airport outside Gaza City, which opened in 1998, has remained closed since it was destroyed by the Israel Defense Forces in 2001, shortly after the outbreak of the Second Intifada.

But the removal of the incorrect geographical reference didn't stop a prank caller from taping a conversation he had with a Delta sales agent and spreading it over the internet on YouTube.

In the prank call, "Ahmed" tries to buy tickets for a trip to the Occupied Palestinian Territories for himself and his "four wives ranging in age from 13 to 47" from a flustered customer service representative.  Because there are no operational airports in the Palestinian Territories (occupied or not), the only airports the agent can suggest are Tel Aviv and Amman, with funny consequences. Enjoy!

(A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.)
 

(A tip of the kippah to Sheila Zucker for pointing us to this story.)