Related post: Kosher Meals Are Starting To Make A Comeback On Domestic Flights
The OK has put out an alert that ultra low-cost carrier WOW Air is using an unauthorized OK symbol on their special menu with meals for sale on flights departing from Tel Aviv.
All 3 menu options from Tel Aviv say that they are OK Kosher, when in fact they are not under OK supervision:
I guess lying about having OK kosher supervision is one way to get your costs down?
Have you been on a WOW flight with these meals? Share your thoughts or links to images of the meals in the comments below!
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79 Comments On "WOW! Not Kosher: WOW Air Busted Using Unauthorized OK Kosher Symbol!"
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You get what you pay for…. 😛
The food all have prices. I don’t think the $10 for a Kosher salad or a Sandwich is normal, but on a flight, I guess they have you captive… no pun. Better prices than the fresko items in the airport though..
Wondering if the products are certified kosher by some other agency and they made the mistake of using an K inside of an O as a symbol of kosher instead of just marking it as K.
Had the same thought.. they may have just googled ‘Kosher symbol’ and came across this..
Very likely if they’re made here in Israel. But the point is that nothing is reliable once they are employing false advertising
I was wondering same thing Neil.
Kosher organizations generally state that an establishment is no longer under supervision as of a certain date, or use of symbol was unauthorized. Not questioning their reasoning, but they do not tend to say who was, is or will be certifying.
There are different levels of kashrus. There are some agencies that are trustworthy and others that are not.
The OK is known as a trustworthy agency and I would buy food that they supervise. However I wouldn’t buy food with a plain K in the US (except for Kellogg’s cereal) or a plain Rabanut on it in Israel.
So this is blatant false advertising and copyright infringement. I wouldn’t be surprised to see lawsuits.
Hi Dan. I completely agree that the OK is a trustworthy agency and I too would buy whatever they supervise. However I do know from many mashgichim as well as experience as an attorney that lawsuits are almost never filed when an unauthorized symbol is used.
As long as the manufacturer (or in this case the airline) is willing to take corrective action after this is brought to their attention and there is no demonstrated history of playing games, there is virtually no possibility of lawsuit.
Perhaps not from the OK, but a class-action on behalf of consumer could happen.
Working on one right now (although not about misleading kosher designations). PM me for details.
What are the damages in a class action? Np lawyer will take a case with no damages.
The damages in a clsss action are usually smallbut larger iin the aggregate. Attorenys get their fees plus a bonus as it were.
What about Tabasco? K is a symbol that there is a certifying agency behind it but the agency/rabbi may not have a logo. I don’t think it’s accurate to not buy anything but Kellogs. Instead you should call the manufacturer and then verify that the certifying agency is correct and reliable.
Rav natta Greenblatt of Memphis is the hechsher for this
Btw Kellogg’s is now OU certified
Please note that not everything is cholov yisroel or pas yisroel, unless otherwise specified.
(I’m pretty sure your aware of that, but just didn’t realize when you wrote you reply)
That’s not Gouda!
can someone sue?
way to perpetuate stereotypes
Wow. Got that crazy deal you posted back around September time. $280 RT? Hopped on a train NYC to BWI. Flight was cancelled due to ice storm in Iceland (what are the chances?) Had to hop on another train right away BWI to EWR… booked a direct flight to TLV while on 2nd train… for a cool $2k. Made it to the wedding, all is good BH.
Glad I didn’t make that flight, as I’m no anorexic, and I’d have been chowing down in no time!
What hashgacha
If you had the prestige they would cover your flight change
What’s prestige ?
Slim, I highly suggest checking in with your credit card company about the travel insurance they offer. They may reimburse you for the flight you didn’t take and your second flight. If you needed to stay one hotel overnight due to not being able to get a flight asap, they may reimburse for that too.
Sure it’s one way to get costs down… Until you get sued!
unreal!
WOW!
All I can say is… Wow.
I just took that flight last week. Didn’t actually buy any food but don’t recall seeing an ok in the menu
I doubt the meals are actually not kosher likely a mistake…
I just came back from a flight on wow air. I didnt buy food through, the prices are a real ripoff.
Lawsuits? For what? What damages? The $10 you paid for a sandwich? Stop it.
It isn’t about the money. You can’t have companies putting a kosher symbol on non kosher products. If there was wrongful intent, they should definitely be sued.
It is a violation of religious freedom to knowingly serve nonkosher to someone who only eats kosher under the pretense of the food being kosher in the USA. See Dan Miller vs. Trump Soho. The question is if the US courts have any jurisdiction in this case.
I flew wow last week. I did see the OK symbol, and was actually quite surprised to see an American hashgacha on such a flight. B”H, I didn’t buy the food– the high price saves us!! I’m pretty sure, though, that I saw other frum yidden buying 🙁
Besides for this craziness, Wow was a very functional airline. I heard all sorts of rumors, came with no expectations, and was extremely pleasantly surprised!
The craziness with low-cost carriers comes into play when there’s a cancellation or delay.
They don’t have any partner airlines or extra planes, so you may have to wait a week to get reaccommodated.
Otherwise, they’ll be just fine is most cases.
Actually, as someone who has flown many of the major LCCs/ULCCs I’ll say that Wow was far better than most of them.
An airline like Ryanair or Spirit might be “just fine” compared to the full service airlines when you factor in the fare differences, but all prices equal, a full service airline is far superior to fly, even in normal operations.
However other than charging for everything, Wow was no less pleasant a flight than AA, UA, DL or any of the major European airlines. Flight attendants were friendly, no one was checking to see if your bag was .00001 lb over the weight limit so they can slap an $80 fee, the seats were just as comfortable, there was no cattle car mentality so they can turn the plane in 20 minutes etc.
On a scale of overall flight pleasantness, Wow is much closer to DL than to Ryanair
Since WOW charges for EVERYTHING, turnabout is fair play. WOW should pay a penalty according to the following schedule
Unauthorized OK supervision use fee
Unauthorized OK logo fee (per item listed in menu x number of menus distributed)
Unauthorized use of non-checked lettuce fee
Bread Fee
Raw Onion Bad Breath/Air freshener fee
question: was the OK symbol only on the menu, or also on the actual meals??
And was there any sort of kosher certification? Like where did the whole kosher idea come from? Did they realize what they were doing?
We’re booked on a return flight from TLV on WOW after Pesach. I just assumed that we would bring our own food. I had no intention of paying for airline food, and I had no idea that kosher (or pseudo-kosher) food was available.
Dan,
This would be considered trademark infringement nothing to do with copyright.
With regard to what can be done, they can easily ask for an amount from Wow air as an out of court settlement otherwise they can sue to get up to triple the profits of all kosher food sold using that symbol aside from other remedies. I wish I was still working for one of the largest kosher agencies going after these companies that misuse the mark just to go after this one. It was a lot of fun at the time chasing these things……
Maybe they got into a dispute with the kashrut organization and this is how they decided to flex their muscle. Just saying……
Did you read the OK post??
Dan,
Why should he???? You could just repeat yourself here without us having to SCROLL BACK UP TO THE TOP!!
*tsk* *tsk*
Yes I did. It looks like they are getting paid “corrective actions”…
There was no dispute, Wow used their symbol without permission.
Notice how the OK symbol was only on the TLV flights
That airline knew exactly what they were doing
Lawsuit = $10.00 actual damages
$1,000,000.00 punitive
Why is it all about the money, nebech people ate trafe
They tell you there is not much food choice on the plane so they encourage you to bring you own food, then when you get to the gate they say you can either pay an exorbitant fee or throw it out
You have to make the airline pay, otherwise they will do it again. The only language a business understands is money.
Not true, not directly….you give them bad publicity and this forces them to change.
I heard from a reliable sauce that the first sandwich on the menu is actually under the supervision of the Agouda.
Cheesy joke!
But I’m rolling from it
Ive flown WOW but not into/out of Tel Aviv. I saw that menu and was pleasantly surprised. But I guess not. There are other airlines to fly
WOW!!! SHAME ON YOU!
For those who are careful about Cholov Yisroel & Pas Yisroel, that symbol problem didn’t do any harm.
I just read this a few hours before @dan posted the article.
https://grapevine.is/mag/articles/2018/02/02/jewish-guide-to-iceland-how-to-prevent-accidentally-offending-moses/
“In another consideration, dairy can only be eaten from kosher animals, which knocks off all dairy and eggs sold in Iceland.”
Why do they only offer Kosher food one direction?
NOT OK!
Calm down no body ate treif or non kosher, we have a dispute about the fees and perks that the chief rabbi of OK Kosher in New York asked for, whilst we paid a hefty fee to the OK Kosher in Elad in Israel.
False. They were never under the OK.
Too bad we can’t ban Iceland like they are banning bris.
Will not argue, per company’s policy. I will send a cease and desist letter, including a letter prohibiting you from posting any information or sales from WOW and the possibility of being banned from WOW on future flights. Defamation will be pursued to the full extent of the law.
What arrogant nonsense. If you really represented WOW, which you don’t, and if you’d taken legal advice, which you clearly haven’t, you’d know that you can’t prohibit anyone from posting true information about any company, including its sales. If WOW were to send such a letter it would go straight into the garbage.
You are a lawyer for WOW????
I DONT believe it for a single second. IF you are you need to get your info correct and WOW needs to stop using you. There is NO such thing as “OK Kosher in Elad in Israel.” Bottom line is YOU ARE LYING!
BTW, OK Kosher in Israel is in Elad
And our firm would represent this great site probono if it comes to it
Seeing this post is so scary that i have only one word to sat “WOW”!
Stand on your head and you will yell MOM
Miechel,
Regardless of fee issues or not. Was it certified by the OK at the time people on the flight were shown those menus or not? It makes no difference how much you pay, either you are certified and have a right to use that mark or you don’t have a right. Everything else confuses the facts.
no such thing as to good to be true
Note that the airline doesn’t have to be certified. Only the meal does. If the airline is purchasing packaged meals certified by the OK and selling them on board, it is entitled to use the OK trademark to indicate that fact, and yet the OK might not know about it.
The meal is not under the OK.
Millhouse, the OK or any kashrus agency will protect its symbol. Even if WOW was getting kosher certified fully wrapped items, they would NOT be able to use the kosher symbol without authorization UNLESS they used it completely in association with the item and its brand name.
בחדרי חדרים picked up the story:
http://www.bhol.co.il/129986/%D7%98%D7%A2%D7%A0%D7%94-%D7%94%D7%97%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%94-%D7%94%D7%92%D7%99%D7%A9%D7%94-%D7%90%D7%95%D7%9B%D7%9C-%D7%9C%D7%90-%D7%9B%D7%A9%D7%A8-%D7%9C%D7%97%D7%A8%D7%93%D7%99%D7%9D.html
Cc protection
Booked CSR air Berlin which cancelled flight. Chase insurace long hassle and at the end only refunded actual ticket . Said they never pay replace tickets
So you are all warned
Wish chase used a better insurance product
Lost trust in chase protection
Similar bad experience with Amex gold protection
Can’t be relied upon , they will not cover you
WOW is now Denying it …
http://www.bhol.co.il/130022/%D7%A1%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%9B%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%98%D7%99%D7%A1%D7%AA-WOW-%D7%94%D7%97%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%94-%D7%9E%D7%92%D7%99%D7%91%D7%94.html
But they took off the symbol from the menu …
https://issuu.com/wowair/docs/wow-me-winter_ef_80_a2spring_202017/40
Yes, their excuse now is that they didn’t mean to copy the OK, they just meant to put a K, but somehow, by sheer coincidence, chose the exact same K that the OK uses, and which the OK probably paid a graphic designer to come up with, and then they decided to put a circle around it to draw attention to it, but only one passenger was foolish enough to jump to the conclusion that we were representing the meals as being certified by the OK, just because we had an exact replica of its trademark next to it. The customer should have known better because the OK usually uses grey on white, and we used white on purple. (I’m sure if you check the OK’s trademark registration there’s not a word about colors.)